Come Back
by Frost115
Summary: Discord had friends. Discord finally knew what he was missing out on. Discord finally saw the magic of friendship. But it didn't last. A misunderstanding leads to Discord being turned to stone again by his friends, including Fluttershy. When Discord manages to escape, what will his new plan be? Will he return to friendship or will he seek out revenge? (Eventual Fluttercord)
1. Prologue

**(Timeline is BEFORE Tirek, just thought I'd mention that)**

 **Prologue**

It was quiet tonight in the Canterlot Gardens. Even though the night usual had the quiet steps of night guards or the silent rustling of the trees, none of that applied this day. The guards were said to ignore the garden. She sound very serious with her tone after they hauled in the new statue as if she was afraid of anypony seeing it. She said she would assign guards to watch it the next day and no sooner.

The guards were slightly worried for the tone the usually calm Princess took but also felt lucky that they didn't need to be in the gardens on this night. The wind felt very cold and the sky didn't have any stars as if Luna herself was feeling the effects of earlier that day.

The new statue served as a reminder, a harsh reminder, of what was and what could've been. The statue told a story that would possibly be remembered for another hundred years. It was a story of ultimate betrayal. It was a reminder of the onetime friendship has failed them. This was a statue of Discord.

Discord was in a new pose than his previous two poses. The first time it represented his personality and was meant to show how he was vulnerable when caught off guard. His second pose, when Twilight and her friends defeated him the first time, showed how friendship had defeated chaos. This final pose showed the complete opposite. The final pose was utter defeat. He looked slightly hunched over, tired, upset, so many things. One eye looked down a little at pony height while the other was covered by his talon arm as if he couldn't believe what was happening. Even his tail looked straighter than his usual snake-like form.

A figure began immerging from the darkness. It was easy for the yellow pegasus to enter the gardens. Perhaps Celestia knew Fluttershy would come. The pegasus stopped for a second, as if to collect her thoughts, then finally walked in front of the statue. She looked up at the Discord Statue. A mixture of multiple emotions in her eyes.

"Discord" Fluttershy began. She almost didn't recognize her own voice because of how tired it sounded. She stared into Discord's eyes and almost broke down over how betrayed he looked. She began getting angry. Who gave him the right to look so betrayed? HE betrayed HER. She tried not to let her anger show.

"Why did you do it?" Fluttershy managed to say. Of course she got no response from the statue, as she expected, but still made her mad. Just like before he had no answer. He didn't say anything. He was quiet.

Discord was her friend. Why did he betray her like this? Why did he hurt those ponies? Why did he pretend to enjoy being with her? Why did he laugh about it before but then when they cornered him he got quiet. Fluttershy had so many questions and no answers.

Fluttershy could've sworn she heard movement and she looked up hoping he was somehow responding. No. He was still frozen. He was still gone. This made her angrier. The questions made her angry. His pose mad her mad. Everything he did made her mad.

"I thought you were my friend!" Fluttershy yelled. She shocked herself over how unintentionally loud she made herself but she was still angry none the less. The statue didn't budge. This time it didn't make her angry but rather sad.

Fluttershy was shaking a little. She couldn't tell if it was from sadness or anger. She didn't take the time to fix her mane after the event. Her usually clean pink pane was messy. It was as if she had given up on her hair, or she had given up on Discord. That thought made Fluttershy look away from the statue.

"I thought you were different… I thought you understood me… I thought… I…" Fluttershy tried. She felt some tears go down her cheeks again.

"I loved you…" Fluttershy barely whispered. With more tears going down her cheek and her increasing shaking it was difficult for Fluttershy to even think about Discord. She was sure she would break down soon enough, but she wouldn't give Discord that satisfaction. Or maybe she just didn't want Discord to see her cry.

Fluttershy took one last look at the statue, gazing up at it for what may be the last time she will ever see Discord, and ran off. Leaving behind the gardens. Leaving behind Discord.

The garden was quiet again. Not a single lifeform was there that night. No guards. No birds. No Fluttershy. Nothing alive was there that night but the flowers and plants. Not even Discord has stuck around for too long before he escaped.

Unknown by the yellow pegasus, Discord had not heard nor seen much of her little speech before taking off.

* * *

 **My Notes:**

 **Are prologues supposed to be this short? Don't worry though, I try to make my chapters between 2k-3k words so they won't be this short. Curious about what happened and why he was turned back to stone? Well you'll find out. Eventually. :)**

 **Another note:  
I'm writing this story in a different way than I usually do (because I want to become a better writer) so I'd appreciate some constructive criticism either through PMs or reviews. Don't worry I'll respond to them if you want me to (because I just figured out that you can actually respond to them xD)**

 **Just pretend the reviews and PMs are my fuel. The more reviews I get the more I think people actually like my writing. I'd really appreciate if you left a review!**

 **Thanks for taking the time to read this and see you next time!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Life was normal in Ponyville, the ponies would buy what they needed, do their jobs, and occasionally talk to one another. In fact it was too normal. Those who could muster enough will power to try and talk to some other pony find it was very difficult to maintain a conversation. Eventually every pony decided it was best to just go about their business. Why has Ponyville become like this?

"Hi! How can I help you sir?" Pinkie chimed. The customer, who looked a little too happy to get sweets, placed his order. He looked a little disappointed when Pinkie, almost immediately and quietly, went to the back and came with a sack of cupcakes, exactly what he ordered.

It has been a week since the Discord incident, a whole week since he was turned back to stone, a whole week since her first failure at making a friend. All of the mane 6 felt the weight of that event and although some took it harder than others, notably Fluttershy, Pinkie was doing her best to move on.

"How may I help you?" Pinkie sang.

The cakes were one of the first to notice Pinkie's odd behavior. It was obvious something was wrong when Pinkie didn't wake them up with her usual 'good morning' song and dance. Although they should be grateful for getting a full rest, it continued thought the week and they began to worry. She wasn't usually this… quiet.

"What would you like?" Pinkie asked in a happy tone.

When the town became quiet, it was Pinkie they turned too for they all relied on her to make them all happy again, she was the 'party-planner of Ponyville' after all. Lately the only way to hear anything at all from the pink earth pony was to place an order. In fact most ponies came to Sugarcube corner and placed an order in hopes of getting some sort of conversation from Pinkie. Anything at all would've been helpful, even a simple joke, but every time they tried, all they got was:

"Have a nice day!" Pinkie chimed and waved. The customer looked back, a mixture of confusion and disappointment on them, and awkwardly waved back as they exited.

The day went by quickly and quietly, Pinkie only speaking when she needed to while at the same time sounding as if nothing was wrong. Pinkie realized the time and quietly picked up the left over cupcakes.

"Pinkie" a familiar voice called. Pinkie mentally sighed as she turned around and smiled.

"Hi Ms. Cake!" Pinkie greeted, noticing that Mr. Cake was right next to her. They both looked at the tray of cupcakes she was holding and smiled.

"Eating the leftovers again?" Ms. Cake asked, sounding a bit desperate. Pinkie looked down at the cupcakes. For a moment she actually considered diving into them and swallowing all of them with no troubles.

Instead she just shook her head.

"No, just putting them away" Pinkie replied. Again the cakes knew something was wrong and they gave each other a worried look. Pinkie would always eat the leftovers of the day, she would never just put them away.

"Well… Listen Pinkie. We're um… Really tired. As you've noticed we've been getting a lot of customers lately, our backs are killing us." Mr. Cake lied as he awkwardly rubbed his back.

"We need to go to bed early, would you mind putting Pound and Pumpkin to bed?" Ms. Cake asked. This was all a lie, they formed a plan to get Pinkie into babysitting the twins for a while. She absolutely loved babysitting them and would always have a smile on her face afterwards. Also the twins have been feeling down lately, maybe it was because Pinkie didn't play with them this week. If this didn't help her then they didn't know what would.

"Okie Dokie" Pinkie said. Both of them smiled awkwardly, Mr. Cake sweating a little, before they both nodded and quickly retreated to their room. Pinkie stood there for a few seconds before letting her smile drop.

"Bye" Pinkie whispered as she slowly headed upstairs to the twins' bedroom.

* * *

 ***1 week ago***

 _Great, I'm back here again. Just another ornament for the birds to rest on. Gah I hate this! I hate all of this! This is just peachy! For chaos sake I was barely given a proper trial._

 _Now I need to wait another hundred years for my chaos to regenerate, nothing but staring at Celestia's poorly kept castle. Would it kill her to put some more statues of me in here? This place is begging to be remodeled._

 _ **Crack**_

 _Why didn't I keep arguing instead of just going quiet? Why didn't I just teleport away before they caught me? Why didn't I just take their elements again? Gah! They knew my weakness I bet!_

 _What do I do now? What can I do now? Maybe try to make another plan once I get out. Celestia and Luna are definitely going to pay for this. Well, Celestia definitely._

 _No doubt the elements of harmony will be dead by the time I get out, so they shouldn't be any trouble. Also they won't get hurt. Wait. Why do I care?_

 _ **Creak. Crack.**_

 _I bet Rainbow is enjoying herself knowing I'm back here. Heck maybe Applejack was just pretending to give me a chance just so she could rub it in my face later. I bet none of them were truly my friend. Not even Pinkie. Only Fluttershy_

 _ **Crrrrrrrack.**_

 _Maybe Fluttershy truly didn't want to imprison me again. My dear Fluttershy would never harm me unless it was for the greater good. I'm sure she'll prove my innocence somehow._

 _Oh. Who am I kidding?_

 _They imprisoned me in the first place. My so called 'friends' turned their backs on me. It serves me right for trusting anything harmonic. I guess I won't have to decide since they won't be around when I- Wait, what is that sound?_

 _ **Creak. CRACK!**_

* * *

 ***Modern day***

The second Pinkie walked in that door, the twins dropped the blocks they were stacking and squealed in delight to seeing the pink pony. Pinkie couldn't help but smile at this, she genuinely smiled for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

"Missed me?" Pinkie joked, but it sounded more forced than happy. Pumpkin flapped his wings as fast as he could to get to Pinkie before his sister, who was trying to levitate herself to Pinkie, could. It turned into a small race before they ended up being swooped into Pinkie's arms as she hugged them.

"I missed you too" Pinkie laughed as they nuzzled into her. Sure she saw them on a daily bases, but she practically avoided all social contact, with the acception of work, which included the twins so she would pass by them and give them a smile, but they always looked upset when she left. Not tonight, she wasn't going to fail them this time.

"Don't worry, I won't fail you two" Pinkie sighed as she nuzzled them, doing her best to keep the tears at bay.

* * *

 ***1 week ago* (Again)**

Before Discord could figure out what was happening, the stone walls around him began to crack all around him and it all came tumbling down. Discord barely caught himself by flashing a bed where he was falling.

"It's about time, I'm glad you realized that-" Discord began before realizing he wasn't freed but rather the spell wore off. In the back of his mind he was hoping they freed him and would shower him in apologize but no. As far as he knew, they still wanted him to be a statue.

For a few seconds Discord just began looking around him. Quietly looking for anypony to cheer for him being freed. He was hoping Fluttershy was there to be happy for him. No. He was alone.

" _Who cares about them? I'm free!_ " Discord thought to himself as he stretched his arms, it wasn't as stiff this time as before but he needed to be sure everything still worked. He laid back on his bed, he thought he'd not feel a thing for years but here he was, less than a day after being turned to stone, and he was already out.

Discord sat up at this. Why was he free? Last time he knew it would've taken him a century to break out if Celestia had not chosen to try and reform him, what happened? Was it because they were so hesitant on turning him to stone? No, Discord knew that wasn't the case. If hesitance weakened the elements then he knew that Princess Celestia and Luna wouldn't have kept him imprisoned for so long the first time.

" _If anything they were more than happy to turn be back to stone, I mean they didn't hesitate a second to accuse me. It was only a matter of time before they betrayed me._ " Discord bitterly thought as he laid back down. Then he snickered a bit.

"Maybe the elements of harmony judged me better than my 'friends' did" Discord joked quietly to himself.

Discord tensed up when heard the sound of nearby leafs being crushed, he felt so dumb for just hanging around there when he should've been escaping. He quickly turned himself invisible and went to the nearest tree for cover. He almost relaxed, until he remembered the bed he left and the fact that they would notice his statue missing. Discord, feeling even dumber, snapped his fingers and the bed vanished while a stone replica of his former imprisoned self took the spot of his missing statue.

" _Did I look like that_?" Discord asked himself but decided it wasn't important.

Now that everything was gone, he could sneak away without any suspicion for at least a month, there is no way they'd know he broke free so quickly. Discord almost began flying away but was halted when he noticed a familiar face. It was Fluttershy.

" _Why is she here?_ " Discord thought, not sure if happy or angry at seeing her. Is she here to free him? Did they realize their mistake? Did she come to apologize? Could he go back to being her friend?

"Why did you do it?" Fluttershy asked. Discord felt the last glimpse of his hope shatter on those words. Of course he was way over his mind. Of course Fluttershy, his closest and possibly only friend, still didn't believe him. What else should he have expected?

Discord almost loudly sighed before stopping himself. He quietly began flapping his bat and bird wings and he quietly ascended into the air. He began turning around when he almost lost his balance when he heart Fluttershy shout.

"I thought you were my friend!" Discord heard her say. It felt like being pounded in the chest. Discord knew what that meant: they weren't friends anymore.

He felt the same pain he felt when Fluttershy threatened to not be his friend, except this felt much worse. He grinded his teeth, covered his ears, closed his eyes, and flew away as fast as he could.

He didn't care if where he was heading anymore. He just didn't care. He didn't care if they would find out later. He didn't care he was spotted. He didn't care for her. He didn't care about anything. As far as he knew, she wasn't a friend he wanted.

Discord stopped flying when he felt his thoughts sink in. _She wasn't a friend he wanted_. He knew he was lying to himself. She was everything he wanted. She was kind, passionate, caring, and she actually cared for him. He felt like he belonged. Not even Luna accomplished that.

He turned around to take one more glimpse at the Canterlot Castle. He flew pretty fast so he was much farther than he expected. He was glad he couldn't see the Canterlot Gardens anymore. The situation finally began to sink it. He was alone, he had nowhere to go, and he had no purpose.

It felt like old times. No one cared for him. No one to talk to. No one to relate to. Alone. Stone. Discord turned back and flew more slowly this time. He wasn't sure where he was headed, but then again he wasn't sure about anything anymore.

Discord didn't notice a figure below him. He didn't notice how the figure smiled deviously at this. As if, to the unknown figure, this was all according to plan. Or the start of their plan.

* * *

 ** _My Notes:_**

 ** _I updated a bit earlier than expected, so enjoy xD_**

 ** _So Discord may or may have not been framed (or tricked). So you'll see how each of the mane 6 (or is it main 6?) deal with feeling betrayed. (Although some of them, like Rainbow, may not feel betrayed at all.) This chapter showed a bit of Pinkie Pie. Next chapter will show Twilight and Fluttershy._**

 ** _(Responses)_**

 _I'm still not sure what a decent size for a chapter is **bluecatcinema**. My limit is at least 1500 though. Thanks for the review :D_

 _I look forward to writing them **DragonRaven12**. Thanks ^_^_

 _So **A Man Undercover** , do you mean THIS story or my other ones? Well I haven't abandoned my other stories (I'm actually going to update one of them soon) since I don't want to leave anything unfinished so I'll eventually get enough free time to update them again. As for this story I've readied about 4 chapters just in case I get busy in school again. So hopefully I will be able to keep my stories updated. :D_

 _ **I'm not sure why I update this story so late at night. Next time I'll update it in the morning xD**_

 _ **Anyways, have a great day/night and thanks for reading. ^_^**_


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The sun was rising and a new day dawned on Ponyville, everyone was just waking up and preparing for another dull day. Well, except for Twilight and Spike, they woke up a few hours ahead of schedule.

"Spike watch the library for me" Twilight said again as she combed her hair in front of the mirror, making sure she didn't look as stressed as she felt.

"C'mon Twilight… Just let me… Sleep in for… once…" Spike replied as he almost fell back asleep. Almost, until Twilight called out again.

"Spike! What did I say?" Twilight asked. Spike groaned loudly and sat up from his bed.

"The early bird gets the worm" Spike recited as he annoyingly kicked the blanket off of him. Twilight turned to him and frowned.

"Spike, what other thing did I say?" Twilight asked, again Spike groaning.

"A messy bed is the start of a messy day" Spike recited again as he picked up the blanket and started to make his bed. Twilight smiled and turned back to the mirror.

"Thank you Spike" Twilight said as she went back to combing her hair.

She realized the significance of that quote, lately things have been feeling a bit off with some of her friends. Applejack has been acting weird, whenever they mention Discord she just smiles awkwardly and agrees with whatever Twilight says. Is she hiding something?

Pinkie was acting like normal, but she wasn't as free-spirited as before. Pinkie was acting a little too normal. As if her daily routine has become a burden. In fact, Twilight would even say Pinkie is trying to avoid them. That isn't true right?

Then there was Fluttershy…

"Alright done, I'm going to make breakfast" Spike said as he yawned and started heading for downstairs.

"Spike, I said 'watch the library' because I was heading out" Twilight reminded. Spike halted and turned to where Twilight is.

"Again?" Spike asked.

"Yes, make sure to dust the books while I'm out" Twilight said, putting the hairbrush down and walking over to Spike.

"Ok. Are you…?" Spike asked. Twilight nodded with a worried look on her face. Spike looked down, suddenly he felt guilty for wanting to sleep in. After all, Fluttershy was going through much more troubles than him.

"Don't worry Spike, I'm sure everything will work out" Twilight said as she headed downstairs, Spike following close behind. Spike ran ahead of Twilight and politely opened the door for her.

"Thank you my number one assistant, bye" Twilight thanked as she headed out. Spike watched her as she headed out the door.

"Good luck" Spike replied as he slowly closed the door.

Twilight walked through the center of Ponyville where it was quiet and eventless. It was almost creepy how quiet the usually talkative residents of Ponyville were, but after a week of this Twilight had already been used to it.

Twilight hoped this wouldn't become normal.

She knew the reason for this, Pinkie. Twilight knew that Pinkie could solely change the mood of everyone in Ponyville, she would cheer ponies up if they were depressed and she would calm a pony down if they were angry. Or accidently make it worse.

Twilight remembered the incident with their Cutie Marks being swapped, without Pinkie the whole town went sour in less than a day, but Pinkie didn't outright just ignore everyone this time, she was talking and that was enough to keep everyone at least neutral.

It was normal, but it just wasn't Pinkie Pie normal.

Finally Twilight reached Fluttershy's home. There were no animals in sight. Twilight carefully approached the door, while making sure not to step on some of the bird seeds on the floor, and knocked. No response, but she expected this.

"Fluttershy, it's me" Twilight called out. 5 seconds pass by before Twilight hears the sound of hoofs approaching the door, followed by some unlocking sounds, then the door creaks open slightly. Twilight carefully steps inside and closes the door behind her.

"Hey" Fluttershy sighs. This brought a smile on Twilight's face, last time it took Fluttershy an hour before she finally said something to Twilight. At least this meant she was willing to respond.

"Hey Fluttershy, how are you feeling?" Twilight asked with a worried look on her face.

"…Better" Fluttershy responds.

"You remember what I told you yesterday?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy nodded her head and Twilight smiled a little.

"Alright, just try to forget about him. C'mon I'll make us some tea and we can just talk alright?" Twilight offered as she headed into the kitchen. As Fluttershy sat and waited for Twilight, her mind began to think of her animals.

For one thing she felt bad for neglecting to feed them and another thing is that she felt bad for getting Applejack to do it for her, even if she did insist on it while Fluttershy was… recovering.

Fluttershy was sure Applejack was having a hard time, most of the birds seemed to be scared of her and didn't try to eat the seeds she left. Although, Fluttershy kept insisting she would've done a worse job. She was just so bad at all of this. She was a failure. Or at least that is what she thought.

The sound of the tea pot whistling and a pair of hoofs ruffling in the kitchen made Fluttershy wipe the tears forming in her eyes and sit up. Soon enough Twilight emerged with two cups of tea. Twilight then sat down next to Fluttershy with a smile and gave her a cup.

"So, you think you're up for feeding the animals? I know you love that." Twilight tried. Fluttershy simply shook her head and sipped on her tea.

"What about Angel?" Twilight asked.

"He's fine" Fluttershy responded. That wasn't a lie, Angel was doing fine, but he was definitely worried for Fluttershy. In fact he is even eating whatever Applejack gives him just so Fluttershy wouldn't' worry about if he eats.

"Good. Where is Angel right now actually?" Twilight asked curiously and looked around the room, as if she expected Angel to be hiding somewhere.

"He is outside with his other bunny friends" Fluttershy said. In truth she wasn't sure where Angel would go when he wasn't at home, but she just assumed he was with the other bunnies.

"Twilight, can I tell you a secret?" Fluttershy asked, interrupting whatever Twilight was going to ask next.

"Of course" Twilight said. Fluttershy looked down a bit and hid behind her mane.

"I sort of… Kind of..." Fluttershy kept stuttering, this was much harder to do than she anticipated, even though she was preparing herself to tell Twilight.

"Yes?" Twilight asked.

"…Liked …Discord." Fluttershy concluded.

"Of course you liked Discord. Applejack and Pinkie liked him too, but-" Twilight began.

"No, not that kind of… 'Like'" Fluttershy interrupted, now Twilight was confused.

"Oh?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy continued staring at the floor, should she be telling Twilight this? She needed to get this off her chest somehow, someone needed to now. Fluttershy decided she could only tell Twilight.

"Like um… well... 'like like' him" Fluttershy mumbled.

"…Like like?" Twilight asked to clarify. Fluttershy nodded.

"As in… Love?" Twilight asked again, the only response she got was Fluttershy lowering her head slightly and blushing harder.

"Oh." Twilight replied, unsure what to tell her. This was all very confusing for Twilight, she couldn't believe there was an actual soul that could love that draconequus, then again it should've been obvious to Twilight based on how close Fluttershy and Discord were before…

Twilight wanted to congratulate Fluttershy, she wanted to help her, but this wasn't a good thing because Discord was turned to statue now and possibly forever. Fluttershy will sadly never have that opportunity.

"Um…" Twilight went, trying to think of how to respond. Should Twilight lie and tell her there was hope Discord will one day really reform? Should Twilight tell her the truth and say it is likely Discord will be imprisoned for another hundred years? What should she tell her?

"It's ok Twilight" Fluttershy said, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts. "I know it was doomed from the start. Discord and I… I'll be alright. You can… leave, if you want."

It all dawned on Twilight the moment Fluttershy said that. This hurt Fluttershy the most not because Fluttershy lost a friend, but she lost a lover. Fluttershy must've felt so abandoned, like someone she cared for deeply has left her alone. Now Fluttershy feels like everyone else was going to leave her, it pained Twilight to see her friend like this.

Twilight, almost instinctively, reached over and pulled Fluttershy into a hug, surprising the yellow pegasus.

"Out of the question. I'm not leaving you." Twilight gently said. Silence enveloped the room. For about 10 seconds neither of them moved an inch but Fluttershy slowly returned the hug and a few stray tears began escaping her eyes.

"I… I…" Fluttershy tried but couldn't continue, eventually she just silently sobbed into Twlight's back, which broke Twilight's heart to see her friend this sad.

Twilight wanted to drag Discord out of that stone and show him what he did, she wanted to blast him to the moon for hurting Fluttershy this much, she couldn't think of a proper punishment for the draconequus. To Twilight, Discord didn't deserve another chance.

* * *

 _ **My Notes =**_

 _ **Admittingly school (so far) is easier than last year. Maybe I can get more chapters done during my grace time? :o? Also I swear some good things will happen eventually. This won't be all sad and crying I promise! Just wait a few chapters! xD**_

 _ **(On another note I'm grown lazy to the idea of naming my chapters. I might start naming them later on though.)**_

 _ **(Responses)**_

 _I know I've already PM'd you about it_ _ **InvaderL**_ _but I'll mention it again. xD Yes Screwball will show up soon enough. Although (spoiler warning) she may or may not act very much like Screwball at the beginning._

 _Really_ _ **ChapterRaven12**_ _? I don't usually write so much sad things consistently so I thought I was making it too upsetting. Thanks xD_

 _I recently updated the other 2 stories you mentioned_ _ **A Man Undercover**_ _. My winter break is over though so I might take a while again. I got 2 more chapters prepared for this story though so if I feel I'm taking too long I'll just update it._

 _Yes_ _ **Guest**_ _there will be Fluttercord. Eventually. I mean Fluttershy obviously likes Discord right now BUT (for obvious reasons) it can't be helped right now. (Although the feeling won't die I promise!)_

 _ **Have a pleasant winter! :D**_


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The sun was shining down on Rainbow Dash's face. It looked like a beautiful day outside. Normally on days like these Rainbow Dash would be hanging out with her friends. Instead, she just laid there on her cloud with a bored expression on her face.

She had finished her weather duties a few hours ago. She wished she took more time on finishing it because now she had nothing to do. Again. She does enjoy her naps and personal time alone, but a whole week without her three closest friends was stretching it.

Rainbow wanted to see Pinkie Pie, but she knew what would happen. Pinkie would just make up an excuse for not hanging out and go back to her solitude. Perhaps she could go and have a friendly chat with Fluttershy. No. She was probably still an emotional wreck because of Discord.

Applejack seemed a bit off. Like she was hiding something. Or worried about something. Come to think of it, so did Scootaloo and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. Rainbow hasn't seen Scootaloo all week. Where they planning something?

"Ugh. So bored!" Rainbow whined as she turned over to face down on her cloud. She has been really bored for a while now because Ponyville, along with most of her friends, have gone quiet since the Discord incident. As much as Rainbow liked Twilight and Rarity, she didn't see herself going to pull some pranks or practice stunts with them.

"Discord, I knew you would backstab us, but Fluttershy didn't" Rainbow sighed. If she could go back in time, she would've punched Discord's face in before turning him into stone again.

Suddenly, something caught the pegasus' eye. Something familiar. Something pink. Rainbow was surprised to see Pinkie Pie trotting nearby, seemingly lost in her thoughts. Rainbow took this as a sign and, with a big smile on her face, flew down to the pink earth pony.

"Hey Pinkie!" Rainbow called out as she landed behind her. Pinkie looked as if she tensed up at the sound of her voice. Almost immediately afterwards Pinkie turned around to meet her friend.

"Hiya Dashie!" Pinkie replied with a smile. Rainbow frowned at this. She has known Pinkie for a long time and knew when Pinkie was faking a smile. Yet, she decided not to press the issue.

"You don't work today right? Wanna help me with a new stunt I'm working on?" Rainbow asked with a hopeful smile. Pinkie's expression didn't move.

"Sorry Dashie, I gotta-" Pinkie began. Rainbow wasn't going to take excuses this time.

"C'mon Pinkie! I really need your help!" Rainbow tried. Pinkie's smile wavered a bit and she looked a bit upset.

"But-" Pinkie started.

"Please? I'm practically begging. You know it takes a lot for me to beg." Rainbow said. Pinkie looked at her friend for a while and then sighed. Pinkie knew she couldn't get out of this one. Besides, it could be… fun.

"Alright" Pinkie said with a weak smile.

* * *

Discord laid back on the top of the tree as he stared idly at the sky. As if Princess Celestia was mocking him. All Discord has been doing was watching the clouds move, on their own, and occasionally try to sleep. He hasn't slept in a while, but luckily sleeping wasn't required for him. But he still enjoyed resting his mind. What he DID need was to spread chaos.

Discord mindlessly summoned a chunk of cotton candy and tossed it into his mouth. He almost gagged at it but forced it down. Too sweet again. For some reason Discord couldn't seem to make any good candy with his magic anymore. He needed to eat though.

" _Ugh. I would do anything for one of Fluttershy's soups right now_." Discord thought to himself. The memory of his lost friend still brought a shockwave to his heart. The words would keep replaying in his head like a broken record.

 _I thought you were my friend!_

Without anything to do, Discord summoned one of the many piles of books that he 'borrowed' from Twilight before they turned him to stone. He didn't feel bad about the books anymore.

He opened a book of 'Discrete Mathematics Volume 3' and scanned through some of the pages. He didn't see why ponies had such difficulty with this. They said it was confusing but he didn't see what was so confusing, in fact it looked too organized for him. He sighed and tossed the book to the side and picked up another.

 **THUMP!**

" _Oh boy. Another story about me and my 'reign of evil._ '" Discord thought bitterly to himself as he examined the cover. It was an admittingly well drawn picture of him at the top with red eyes and his palms was reaching down on a bunch of ponies who were running and screaming. Of course they made him look like the bad guy again.

"Um, Excuse me." A voice called from below. Discord opened the book, hoping the pony would leave, and pretended to read. Besides, from his spot in the tree, no one would recognize him.

"Excuse me!" The voice called out louder.

Discord sighed as he smacked the book shut and leaned over the edge of the tree to see who the intruder was. It was an earth pony, probably a filly, with a dark blue coat and even darker blue mane. She also has a sack but he couldn't see what she had in it. Discord couldn't get a good look at her eyes either, but her mane looked a bit messy like she hasn't brushed it in months.

The filly was squinting up at him, probably because Discord was laying directly under the sunlight and was blocking her view on him. That would explain why she didn't immediately run off when she saw him.

"I- Think you dropped this!" The filly yelled up as she held up the book Discord had previously thrown off.

An idea came to Discord. He needed to calm down and have fun, and this filly was the perfect target. He maliciously smiled as he slowly hovered down the tree and into the view of the filly. Her eyes grew wide as her view of Discord got clearer.

"Thank you little one" Discord replied in the lowest tone he could. His smile did not falter. The filly continued to stare as Discord slowly grabbed the book she was still holding on to.

Discord was waiting for her to run off. He'd have a good laugh and then erase her memory. No harm done. He needed to relieve some stress anyways and the only way he knew how was with pranks. He hasn't pranked anyone in a week so this filly was a lucky break for him.

"Wha- What are you?" The filly asked quietly. Discord chuckled as he teleported the book back to his pile. He grew an extra fang and made his pupils disappear in hopes to scare her.

"I'm just a nightmare" Discord said as he began to reach for the filly.

"WOW! COOL!" The filly suddenly exclaimed, making Discord out of shock retract the extra fang and made his pupils come back.

"Huh?" Discord went.

"No! Wait! You're a draconequus right!?" The filly asked as she took his lion paw and looked over it like it was a toy.

"How did you-" Discord began.

"So cool! I've read all about them even though Mom and Dad told me not to! I never thought I'd see one in pony!" The filly interrupted as she let go of his paw and began looking at his legs.

"Um…" Discord went. Suddenly the filly gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth.

"You're… Discord?" The filly asked quietly.

"….Yes?" Discord replied. The filly's expression froze when he responded and made Discord grin. For a second he thought the filly would actually run away in fear, but the huge grin on the filly's face crushed his hopes.

"So. COOL! The Master of chaos!" The filly sang with a big smile on her face as she jumped behind him like Pinkie Pie. Discord felt her tugging at his tail.

"You're everything I've read about! I knew the Ms. Sourhoof was wrong!" She said as she began lightly stepping on Discord's tail as if he was made jelly.

"…" Discord had no words. He knew he hasn't truly pranked somepony in more than a week, as most of his pranks were harmless or for a quick laugh because he didn't want to upset Fluttershy too much, so he might've been out of practice but he has NEVER failed to scare a filly before. What was going on?

"I can't wait to tell my parents!" The filly suddenly cheered.

This caught Discord's attention and snapped his from his daze. He couldn't let this filly spread the news of his escape just yet. Or not ever. He wasn't sure yet. Discord pulled is tail to his face and, like a fishing rod, the filly was hanging on it with a big grin on her face. Discord wasted no time in placing a finger on her forehead, putting her under his trance.

"As I was saying. This is just. A. Nightmare." Discord said again, but in a more annoyed tone than before. He stared deep into the filly's eyes as his eyes began to swirl in an attempt to hypnotize her. Her eyes soon after began to swirl like his and her smile slowly faded away. Discord sighed loudly and teleported himself onto a new tree but this time made himself invisible.

"So much for a prank." Discord bitterly thought to himself as he rubbed his forehead. He felt a headache coming along. Now he really wanted one of Fluttershy's soups.

No. Discord knew the headache wasn't because of the filly. It was because he hasn't been spreading chaos. He needed to do something soon. For him, not spreading chaos is the equivalent to not sleeping. There is only so much he can tolerate. Soon the urge would overwhelm him and he might go on another chaos spree just like last time.

Discord didn't care what prank he did. A joy buzzer. A cold bucket of water. Destroying Celestia's priceless collection of jewels. ANYTHING would do at this point.

"Discoooooord!" A familiar voice called out from below. For a second the friendly tone of the voice almost made him think it was Fluttershy but he quickly shook his head. It was the filly again.

Discord leaned over to the edge of the tree to see the filly looking around for him. He wanted to teleport himself away and never see this filly again, but she still knew he was there somehow. Discord teleported himself in front of the filly, making her jump back a little.

"Oh! There you are!" The filly excitingly said as she clapped her hooves a bit. Discord didn't look the least bit pleased.

"How did you resist my mind-erasing spell?" Discord asked impatiently as if he expected her to know the answer.

"Is that what that was?" The filly asked, looking a bit confused. Discord growled loudly. Now this filly was just mocking him. Discord was going to ask more questions but was cut-off when the filly grabbed his talon hand and began pulling him along.

"What are you doing?" Discord asked.

"I'm taking you to Mom and Dad!" The filly responded.

Discord internally groaned. He couldn't let this filly take him and show him off to everypony in sight. Also he couldn't just teleport away and let the filly tell anypony what he saw. Out of all the times for his spell to fail it had to be now. Just his luck. Regardless, Discord knew he only had one option left.

Quietly Discord snapped his paw hand and summoned a hammer. Luckily the filly was distracted with looking ahead, probably lost in thought herself, as she tugged him along. Discord had to be careful of how he swung. He had to swing with just enough force to knock her out without killing or seriously injuring her. Was that possible? Well. It wasn't his problem.

...But just to be safe, he used a bit of magic on the hammer.

He began to aim a little as he placed the hammer back in a swinging position. He didn't want to miss and freak her out. Just before he was going to swing he noticed something. Something odd. Something he didn't notice before.

"What's with the sack kid?" Discord asked as he poofed the hammer out of existence. He never got a good look at the sack until now. The filly stopped and turned to him confusingly.

"What do you mean?" The filly asked.

"Well do most fillies carry around a pillow and sheet with them?" Discord sarcastically asked. The filly's confused expression didn't waver.

"Well no, but how else would I sleep outside?" The filly asked.

* * *

 _ **My Notes :**_

 _ **I have everything of this story thought up in my head, the problem is getting it written down before I forget them. xD**_

 _ **For those of you who haven't guessed who the filly is *Spoiler Warning/Hint* you can probably figure it out if you view the mentioned characters in the desc. Also no, Discord wasn't going to kill her. I just want to stress that. _**_

 _Don't worry **DragonRaven12** , you'll see what (they think) he did. Or at least some fragments of the story. (Enough to piece together what the full story is.)_

 _Thanks **Capricorn the mediocre** , I have high hopes for this story. (Mostly because I've been meaning to write a Fluttercord fanfic and I'm taking a new approach for writing.)_

 _Actually **DEADPOOLIE** I'm still debating over who the main villain will be. I'm stuck between 2 likely candidates for the main villain (which I won't say as to NOT spoil it). Although I'm heavily leaning towards one of them. I'll figure it out eventually xD_

 ** _Small note: I'm going to reply on a chapter-basis. Such as if you review on chapter 3, I'll respond in chapter 4 (or in a PM if I feel it is needed)._**

 ** _Well thanks again for reading. Have an amazing night. (Also be safe in the winter, I caught a cold and I don't want you getting sick.) :D_**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Rainbow can easily remember a time where she couldn't think to herself when around Pinkie. The pink pony was the conversation master. She could say a thousand words a minute without taking a breath. The whole time with a smile on her face.

But today was different.

Rainbow and Pinkie both uncomfortably walked to Sweet Apple Acres. It was almost frightening how quiet Pinkie was being. She wasn't speaking, she wasn't hopping, and sometimes she wasn't smiling. Rainbow Dash could swear that every time she looked away, Pinkie would drop her smile.

But still. She didn't regret inviting her. Rainbow knew that if she had to help any of her friends first, it should be Pinkie. After all, who else could cheer ponies up better than the party pony herself? If Pinkie started feeling better then maybe she can help Rainbow with Fluttershy. That was what Rainbow kept telling herself at least. Sometimes she felt she was making excuses for not seeing her close friend, Fluttershy, in such despair.

"We're here" Pinkie said in almost a gloomy way. Maybe she was tired of faking it?

Rainbow looked up and smiled to finally see Sweet Apple Acres. More importantly, she was happy to see Applejack. The farm pony was mindlessly pulling a wagon full of baskets. Each basket seems to be filled with apple to the very top. It didn't take long for Rainbow to see that Applejack was overworking herself again.

"Hey Applejack!" Rainbow called out as they approached her.

Applejack smiled for she recognized the voice. She then turned around and greeted her friends.

"Howdy! Haven't seen ya'll in a while." Applejack greeted as she fanned herself with her hat. She was drenched in sweat. Pinkie's smile wavered a bit at the comment but went unnoticed.

"Yeah… Anyways mind if me and Pinkie work on some stunts here? I got the most amazing idea that is sure to impress the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow announced as she flapped her wings a bit in preparation. Applejack, having a dry expression on her face, put her hat back on her.

"Ya'll remember the last time ah' let you practice on the farm?" Applejack asked. Rainbow sheepishly smiled.

"Oh right." Rainbow said scratched the back of her head. Applejack then playfully smiled.

"Ah' just joking. Go on ahead." Applejack then said as she smirked a bit.

"Thanks! Don't worry though. The only thing I'll be breaking today is records!" Rainbow announced as she flew up in triumph. Applejack rolled her eyes a bit.

"Ah' sure you will" Applejack said to herself.

As Rainbow Dash looked down to her friends with a smile, something else caught her eye. She could see possibly hundreds of baskets scattered across the farm. Some of them were behind the farmhouse they were standing in front of. Each basket had just as many apples as the one before and was filled to the top. Rainbow Dash understood.

" _Oh great, she's doing it again._ " Rainbow thought to herself. Applejack rarely did this, overwork herself, but when she did it was usually either because she felt it was 'her duty' (usually meaning she did something to cause them being backed up in their work) or she was trying to ignore something.

Then Rainbow Dash had an idea. Why not kill 2 birds with one stone? (Metaphorically speaking.)

Rainbow then flew down to Applejack and Pinkie again with the same smile she had before to not bring up suspicion.

"You're coming too right?" Rainbow asked as she snatched Applejacks hat with a smirk. Applejack didn't look the least bit entertained.

"Actually, if ya'll don't mind, ah' need to get back to work" Applejack said as she tried reaching for her hat. Rainbow held it away from her.

"C'mon AJ. Just for a little bit?" Rainbow asked.

"Sorry. Ah' got too much work to do, and give me back my hat!" Applejack responded as she tried again to reach her hat.

"It's just a short break from your work." Rainbow tried as she held it away.

"Ah' thought you said ya'll wouldn't break anything" Applejack retorted as she began circling Rainbow as if she was looking to pounce her to get her hat back. Pinkie couldn't help but giggle at that comeback.

"C'mon! You look like you've worked too much lately!" Rainbow tried again. At this point she was clutching the hat to her chest as if her life depended on it.

"Yeah Applejack! With all these barrels of apples it looks like you could make a hundred apple pies. Or 15 super-duper-giant-delicious-apple-cakes. Or maybe 1 giant-mega-supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-apple-cake!" Pinkie agreed as she looked around at all the barrels of apples.

Rainbow was a bit stunned at Pinkie's comment. Not only because she was thinking of making them into pies but rather because she actually sounded like Pinkie Pie. Unfortunately Applejack saw the opening and, with one swoop, grabbed a hold of her hat while Rainbow was still stunned.

"Thank you." Applejack teased as she put her hat back on. Rainbow frowned at Applejack before sighing. If this was just a normal day she would've let het go. But today was different.

"Yo Pinkie. Go set everything up will ya? I need to talk to miss workaholic over here. Alone." Rainbow asked. She sounded very impatient.

"Okie Dokie" Pinkie sang as she began trotted away.

Rainbow Dash hoped that Pinkie's earlier comment was a sign of her getting better, but one look at her fake smile proved it false. As soon as Pinkie was out of hearing range Rainbow turned to Applejack. Looking very irritated.

"Ah'm not budging. Ah need to keep working and nothing you say can change mah' mind." Applejack declared.

"Not even asking about Discord?" Rainbow bluntly asked. Applejack's expression turned into that of both fear and shock.

"What?" Applejack went but immediately shook her head. "What do yah' mean?"

"What do I mean?" Rainbow asked as she put a hoof under her chin and looked up as if she was thinking really hard about it. In reality she knew exactly what she should say as if she said it a thousand times.

"How about how you've been acting weird ever since Discord has been turned into stone?" Rainbow asked as if she was unsure.

"Ah- Um…" Applejack stuttered.

"Or maybe the fact that you get really nervous or afraid when we mention Discord?" Rainbow asked again. This time she looked down to her friend and removed the hoof from her chin.

"Ah'… Don't know what ya'll are talking about." Applejack tried. Rainbow wasn't fooled. Everyone would know when Applejack is lying when she has that 'lie face' she had when she was corrupted by Discord.

"You don't? Because all those apples over there seem to disagree with you." Rainbow said as she pointed to the closest barrel of apples. Applejack looked to the barrel then to Rainbow.

"Ah'm just… Working really hard?" Applejack tried again.

"It's almost as if you're hiding something from us" Rainbow thought out loud.

Rainbow didn't know how close to the mark she was but immediately found out when Applejack stumbled back a bit. Rainbow couldn't believe it. Her suspicions were true.

"So you ARE hiding something!" Rainbow accused as she began approaching Applejack. She felt a bit betrayed and irritated. Rainbow had no doubt it had to do with Discord.

"No ah'm not!" Applejack pleaded as she kept backing up.

"What is it Applejack!?" Rainbow asked in rage. She was about ready to snatch her hat and rip it to shreds at this point.

"It's nothing!" Applejack tried.

"What is it!? Is it so important you can't tell your closest friends!?" Rainbow asked angrily.

" **NO!** " Applejack immediately responded.

Applejack felt herself bump into something as she backed up. Suddenly a basket of apples fell over and spilled its contents everywhere. Both Rainbow and Applejack were stunned into silence for a moment. It was silent. Very silent.

Rainbow felt like Applejack was going to crack at any moment. She could keep pushing her to figure it out sooner or later because obviously she was bothered by it. She wasn't the one to go poking at other pony's business but this time she made an acception for her friends' sake. Not to mention the question was bugging her. What was she hiding?

It had to do with Discord. Did she help him by accident and was too ashamed to admit it? Was she the reason he turned on us? Was she secretly best friends with him? What? What was it? Rainbow had the feeling it was neither of those. But one thought surprised her into silence.

Was finding out worth it?

With a heavy sigh Rainbow looked up to her now frightened friend.

"Listen, Applejack, I don't care." Rainbow began. Applejack went from frightened to confused.

"Huh?" Applejack responded.

"I don't care anymore about your secret. Obviously it has to do with Discord and for that I don't wanna know. If you were Discord's friend or not I don't care. I just want everything to go back to normal and move on with my life." Rainbow sighed as she rubbed her forehead.

"You… Don't care?" Applejack asked.

"I don't, and neither should you. Discord turned on us. He is nothing but a no good villain. Let's just forget all about him and have fun alright?" Rainbow tried. Applejack stared at her a little as if she was trying to see if she was lying. It took her a few seconds before she sighed in defeat.

"Fine. Let's go." Applejack said with a weak smile.

"Yeah!" Rainbow cheered with a smile. "C'mon let's go! Pinkie is waiting!" She added as she ran ahead. Applejack stayed behind for a little.

" _But you're wrong Rainbow. You should care. In fact we all should all care. Once I figured it out, ah'll free you Discord. I promise._ " Applejack thought to herself before running to catch up to her friend.

* * *

Discord really wished he could just wipe this filly's mind and get away from her. Every second with her made him either confused or aggravated. She was constantly surprising him or irritating him with her innocence and her immunity to his spell. The worst part is that he can't do anything about it. It was like when he was turned to stone. Except this was so much worse.

He couldn't even think of words to describe it. It was like being the punchline to a joke. A long joke that nobody gets nor laughs at and the only draconequus that was laughing was the one who told the joke. And he hated those kinds of jokes.

"Are you alright?" The filly asked. Discord didn't even realize he was just staring at the pony. He quickly rubbed his face with his hands, cleared his throat, and put on his best devious smile.

"I didn't realize being homeless was your thing. Mine is chaos though." Discord joked. The filly tilted her head slightly.

"I'm not homeless" the filly claimed.

"Sure you aren't. I've heard it before. Home is where family is and yada-yada-yada. Good for you." Discord joked.

"Well I guess. But I have an actual house too." The filly said. Discord nearly fell over.

"So you DON'T sleep outside?" Discord asked being slightly irritated. He unknowingly grabbed on to his mustache out of anger.

"I do sleep outside" The filly corrected.

"BUT YOU JUST SAID YOU HAD A HOUSE!" Discord practicly shouted as he pulled off his beard and immediately with his magic summoned a new one in its place. The filly looked in awe.

"Wow! Didn't that hurt?" The filly asked.

"GAH!" Discord irritatingly yelled as he tugged at his horns out of anger. He would've actually pulled off his horns if he got too angry.

' _ **Discord. What did I tell you? Deep breaths.'**_

The familiar voice of his (past) friend Fluttershy rang through Discord's head. Out of instinct he released his grip on his horns and took a deep breath. Then he gently released it like, as Fluttershy would say, the wind gently brushing aside trees.

Once he felt calm enough, Discord opened his eyes once more and scratched the top of his head in an attempt to better understand what she was saying. The filly on the other hand looked very confused over what Discord just did.

"Are. You. Homeless?" Discord asked.

"No I'm not" The filly responded, still looking a bit confused.

"…And you sleep outside with your parents?" Discord asked.

"No I don't" the filly said.

"WHAT! BUT YOU-" Discord began but quickly halted himself and continued in a quieter voice. "Didn't you JUST tell me that you did?" Discord asked.

"No I didn't. I said I slept outside. My parents sleep inside." The filly responded.

"So you sleep outside." Discord asked.

"Yup"

"And your parents sleep inside?"

"Yes"

"And you have a house."

"Yes"

"…But you still sleep outside?"

"Yup"

Now Discord was really confused.

"…Why?" Discord asked.

Just as the filly opened her mouth to respond, Discord quickly decided to halt her by placing a finger to her mouth. He had a dry expression on his face.

"On second thought, I don't wanna know." Discord replied. If this was emotional territory then the pony, or in this case draconequus, helping shouldn't be the spirit of chaos.

"Well okay. Let's get going then." The filly said as she grabbed Discord and attempted to pull him again. This time however Discord was ready as lifted up his arm to pull up the filly. Now she was being lifted like a fish who has been caught.

"No now little one. We can't have anyone knowing I'm here." Discord said.

"Why not?" The confused filly asked.

Discord thought about how he would respond. Sure he could flat-out say 'none of your business' but if this filly was anything like the Cutie Mark Crusaders he has seen back in Ponyville, then she would pursue the question to no end.

He could just lie. He has done that often and very convincingly. Heck he could even just tell a white lie and say he was 'planning a surprise for Princess Celestia and Luna.' Although there is one problem.

Discord didn't get this pony.

Discord couldn't tell if this filly knew he was supposed to be imprisoned or not. He could accidently reveal too much in his lie. He didn't know if this filly could see through lies. After all she somehow saw through his spell. Lying was too risky. Besides, if she found out he was lying, she could try getting revenge by telling everyone he escaped. Discord chuckled softly.

" _The master of chaos being cornered by a naïve filly_ " he jokingly thought to himself.

Wait. This is a filly. Maybe a strange filly but still. There is one thing Discord could try.

"Oh trust me. It's a **long** and **boring** story. You don't wanna know." Discord tried as he placed the filly back down. He was sure this would drive her away. Although the filly looked up at him with interest.

"I got time" the filly stated as she sat down.

Discord looked directly into the filly's eyes in disbelief. For a second Discord could've sworn he wasn't looking at a naïve filly. He thought he saw the eyes of someone who genuinely cared. Someone who actually wanted to hear him out and maybe even help him. He thought he saw Fluttershy.

But that look went away when she turned over and pulled out a pillow from her sack.

"Besides, I could use the extra sleep" the filly said as she dropped the pillow down and sat on it to get comfortable. Discord's eye twitched a little.

" _Well that didn't work_ " Discord thought to himself. What other options did he have? Maybe lying was just a risk he would have to take. What else could he do? Why was this filly so much trouble?

Maybe he could just tell the truth?

He almost laughed at the thought. He may be brutally honest or jokingly honest, but that is as honest as he'll get. The only pony he is truthfully honest with is Fluttershy. Who could ever replace her? She was everything he ever wanted and more. Nopony but her deserved his good side.

He looked at the filly a bit. She was odd that was for sure. She was almost chaotic. Maybe she can help? Besides, for a moment, she reminded him of Fluttershy.

" _I have been through a lot lately. Maybe pouring out all my thoughts will help_ " Discord thought. With that he sighed and summoned a cotton candy cloud for him to lay on.

"Where do I start?" Discord joked.

* * *

 _ **My Notes:**_

 _ **Yup, Applejack is part of the 'I wanna free Discord' team. Why? Well I guess you'll have to wait to figure it out. Spoiler warning, I wont reveal why anytime soon :)**_  
 _ **The funny thing is that in my other FanFics that I included Screwball in I sort-of forgot that she wasn't a unicorn cause I remember her floating and my brain was like "oh she's levitating!" Don't worry though, I know she's an earth pony here. xD**_

Well **MMM** , considering what has happened to Discord it might be difficult for him to accept a new friend. OR he will be so desperate for a friend that he'll jump the gun to the first sign of friendship. :o

Huge thanks to you **Pandergast** for that review. I was having difficulty deciding on a antagonist of the story but your reviews gave me an idea and now I know who the true antagonist should be. Huge thanks to you! You're amazing. :D  
Also I had that thought as well. I always thought of Discord to be some all-powerful god of chaos that is heavily lowering their power or something. He kind of reminds me of Bill (from Gravity Falls). Althought the memory thing is a very good idea. Thanks again! xD

Hmm? [ **InvaderL** ]

 _ **One more note:**_

 _ **I'm sort-of bouncing along ideas as I write this. I already have a few major ideas planned and stuff but the in between stuff is still a bit fuzzy. Of course I don't just want to fill the chapters with filler then suddenly a big villain comes along.  
**_

 **Well thanks again for reading. Never forget that you're an amazing person! Have a great spring!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Fl-Fluttershy…? Are you s-sure I'm doing it right?" Twilight asked, trying her best to keep her hoof (and the food on it) steady. Although her fear made her shake lightly.

"Don't worry Twilight. Harry wouldn't hurt a fly." Fluttershy reassured as she turned to face Twilight.

"What about ponies?" Twilight asked when she heard a small growl emerge from the forest.

"He won't bite" Fluttershy replied as she turned back to feeding her birds. This didn't help Twilight's fear very much. Twilight sweated a bit from the anticipation.

" _Alright Twilight. If you faced an Ursan Minor then you can face this too!_ " Twilight tried to encourage herself. The figure growled once more and Twilight attempted to shut her eyes even tighter than before and tried to distance her hoof from her face as if she was holding something smelly.

Twilight felt the ground shake lightly and made her wonder how heavy the bear actually was. The sound of footsteps getting closer made her attempt to pull her head back as much as she could. Eventually the footsteps stopped. Twilight nearly fell over when she felt and heard his breathing. It reminded her of a bull.

Twilight squeaked a bit when she felt a hairy paw wrap its fingers around her hoof. The paw (gently) turned her hoof around, making all the berries in her hoof spill over. This prompted Twilight to open an eye.

Harry, Fluttershy's bear friend, now had all the berries in his paw and gave Twilight a thankful smile. He then turned around and walked back into the forest. Twilight released the breath she was holding and sat down.

"Oh boy… That was terrifying." Twilight thought out loud. Fluttershy, who at this point finished with her bird friends, turned around and walked over to her friend with a grateful smile.

"See Twilight? Harry is a real sweetheart once you… get to know him…" Fluttershy slowly said as her smile wavered a bit. Twilight immediately sprang up.

"Are you finished with the birds?" Twilight quickly asked. Fluttershy perked up at this.

"Oh yes. They were very happy today. I guess they missed me." Fluttershy said with a light blush of embarrassment. Twilight let out a 'phew' from relief and smiled back.

"I knew feeding your animals would cheer you up" Twilight said happily. Fluttershy's smile grew in agreement.

"Girls!" A familiar voice called out prompting both Twilight and Fluttershy to turn. A familiar white unicorn was trotting into view and they both smiled.

"Rarity!" Both Twilight and Fluttershy (sort of) called out. The unicorn had a big smile on her face.

"Fluttershy darling! You're feeding your animals!" Rarity squealed in delight. Fluttershy just smiled and looked away with a light blush.

"Yes. The poor things haven't been properly feed in a week. I simply couldn't wait any longer." Fluttershy replied with her usual tone of concern. Rarity gasped in horror as she got close to Fluttershy's face.

"Fluttershy! You got bags under your eyes!" Rarity exclaimed dramatically.

Twilight was a bit confused at this remark. Twilight was sure Rarity knew of the, 'condition' that Fluttershy was in. Why did she sound so surprised? In fact why bring up the subject at all and risk her shutting herself off again? Before Fluttershy could respond, Rarity already backed up with a determined smile.

"This simply won't do! Not at all! We must fix this immediately!" Rarity announced as she grabbed Fluttershy's hoof and began leading her.

"Huh? Where are we going?" Fluttershy asked, Twilight walking by her because she is also curious.

"Where else? The spa of course!" Rarity said.

"Oh. But I still need to feed Angel." Fluttershy responded.

"Oh don't worry about him. I'm sure Twilight can handle it."

"WHAT?" Twilight exclaimed as she instantly halted. Fluttershy and Rarity turned back to her.

"Are you sure? He can be a really… picky eater." Fluttershy pointed out.

Twilight already knew this. In fact just about everypony who has ever tried feeding Angel knew this. Nopony knew how Fluttershy did it.

Rarity motioned towards Fluttershy with a worried look. Twilight knew what she was asking. "Do it for Fluttershy." Twilight sighed and slanted her head down.

"Ok. I'll do it."

* * *

"-And of course, since Celestia still didn't trust me, I had given a spell to summon me to my 'good friend' Twilight." Discord continued.

"The purple unicorn?" The filly asked.

"Yes. I was rude fully awoken from my sleep when I was instantly teleported and then tackled by a certain blue pegasus"

"You mean 'Rainbow Dash?'"

"Mmhmmm. Said something about causing trouble in Ponyville by sending Parasprites, which of course I found hilarious, but please I could do waaaay better." He added as he rolled his eyes. The filly rolled her eyes too, but for a different reason.

"Anyways, they accuse me of a few other things like corrupting ponies, a few harsh words here and there, complete silence from my dear 'friend' Fluttershy, and next thing I know I'm being turned back to stone." He concluded as he laid back down.

"Wow. That's kind of…" The filly began.

"Unfair? Rude? Evil? Chaotic?" Discord asked. The filly nodded and Discord chuckled harshly.

"That's life for ya. Take notes kid because sooner or later it'll happen to you." Discord nonchalantly said. The filly looked a bit worried but then a look of curiosity came on her.

"But… Why didn't you just teleport away? I thought you could do that." The filly asked. Discord opened his mouth to answer but found no words.

Discord had no idea how to answer that. Teleporting was out of the question because the elements had some sort of tracking method on them and would move pretty fast. Not to mention Twilight could just summon him back. Although, why didn't he just summon a shield or decoy? He could've easily countered and escaped but when it happened he just sort of, stood there.

Discord knew he was framed somehow by somepony. Discord has the feeling it was his 'friends' that did it just to get him out of their mane. Unless he somehow sleep-chaos'd, which is impossible. In the end though, he was caught without a fight on his end.

"I… Wasn't feeling up to it." Discord claimed when he was out of ideas.

"So in a way, you LET them capture you?" The filly asked. Curse this naïve filly.

"I guess so… BUT fret not young one because I was sure I could escape. Better to let them think I was captured than to have them mercilessly hunt me down to the end of the planet. Yes I know they would do that. Yeah, this was all according to plan." Discord said as he relaxed more. He was really satisfied with that answer.

"Really? What is your plan anyway?" She asked. Discord decided enough was enough as he opened an eye in annoyance.

"And why would I tell you?" He asked.

"Well you've been telling me everything so far. Why stop now?" She responded. Alright this was either the most innocent filly in Equestria, or the best actor in the planet. Discord sat up with a (slightly) devious smile.

"Alright, since we're being all open about this, why don't you tell me what YOUR plan is?" Discord retorted. For a split second Discord saw the filly flinch, but she quickly masked her expression to one of confusion.

"I already told you. I just want to prove to my parents that you really do exist." The filly claimed. Discord looked unamused as if he was the punchline to a bad joke.

"Why would anypony doubt I existed?" Discord asked dryly. The filly matched his expression and rolled her eyes.

"Let's just say that my parents can sometimes be… stubborn when it comes to believing what they've never seen. Heck they probably would think Celestia didn't exist if she didn't wave her giant flank everywhere she went." The filly said. Discord nearly fell off his cloud from the shock and began a laughing riot.

"Oh my chaos! I gotta use that one! Good one!" Discord laughed as he clutched his stomach from the pain of laughing too hard. The filly, with a blush that Discord didn't notice, looked down and turned her head away.

"What I was trying to say is that maybe if I show them that you exist, they will believe me more often and maybe be a little less… Strict." The filly said a bit uncomfortably.

"Oh well that's easy" Discord joked as he snapped his fingers. Instantly a picture materialized out of nothing and floated onto the filly's face.

"Just show that to them. I think it captures my chaos nicely." Discord joked as the filly grabbed a hold of the picture and held it back to get a better view of it. She looked up at him with a confused expression and a small smile.

"I have the feeling you may have altered your look a bit" she said as she held up the picture to him. Discord stretched and discretely snapped his talon arm with a goofy smile.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Discord lied. The filly took another look at the picture and sure enough all the extra muscle was gone from it. Now it was exactly like him. In fact it looked life like. Come to think of it, could ponies take pictures this clearly? She almost considered giving it to her parents but then shook her head.

"I know them. They'll come up with some excuse to think it's fake. They'll only believe it if they actually see you in pony." The filly sighed. Discord arched an eyebrow.

"They sound almost as stubborn as me." Discord joked. The filly smiled but looked off to the side like she wanted to hide it.

"Anyways, the only way is for you to follow me and-" Discord put a finger on the filly's mouth to silence her.

"As much as I love to reveal myself to a bunch of ponies and possibly get myself captured again, I think I'll pass" Discord joked as he removed his finger. The filly looked a bit distressed.

"Please? It'll only be for a minute." She tried.

"You lost me at 'please'" Discord replied. Honestly the only one who could effectively use the word 'please' on him was Fluttershy.

"Pretty please?" She added. Discord gagged.

"Maybe I'd consider it if I knew they'd keep quiet about it." Discord said. The filly looked down.

"Well… It would depend if you're going to spread chaos or not." The filly said. Discord laughed, a bit loudly, and wiped a tear from his eye.

"Asking the Spirit of Chaos if he's going to spread chaos is like asking a pony if they're going to eat" Discord said with a smile. The filly kept her head down but looked up at Discord.

"Are you going to… Take over Equestria?" She asked. Discord tapped his chin, but this time he was actually thinking about his answer.

Seeking revenge has never really been his motive for anything. Sure he might claim it's for revenge or 'justice' but he only says it to keep up his image. The only real reason he would actually aim for somepony was to protect himself. He aimed for the elements of harmony because they were the only things stopping him from doing his work. It never was for revenge. Almost as if he's incapable of feeling it.

For most of his life it was spread chaos and stop anything that could stop him. The last time he failed to do so and he got imprisoned so he learned. He knew how to deal with the royal sisters and all the guards. What he couldn't handle was the elements of harmony. It wasn't because they were powerful, in fact Discord would only need to steal one of them to render them useless, it was because of the actual wielders.

Discord hated what they did to him. He hated what they turned him into. They made him such a push-over. He couldn't imagine himself hurting them. Messing with them sure, but hurting them was something in the back of his mind. One way or another, he felt some sort of bond with them. Even with Rainbow Dash and Rarity it felt more like a rivalry, even if they hated him. He just couldn't bring himself to hate them. He couldn't bring himself to hurt them.

Especially Fluttershy.

Heck he could even say that his relationship with the royal sisters was weird. They didn't hate each other, in fact Luna really wanted to be his friend, but Discord didn't feel that friendly with them either. Discord knew that Celestia might say she trusts him, but he knew what she really thought. After all, why else would she have left the Elements with Twilight the moment he moved in?

It doesn't matter anymore. Regardless if she trusted him or not, it's obvious she doesn't trust him now. None of them did. He can never go back.

"Nah." Discord finally replied as he got comfortable on his cloud. "I'm just going to take it easy for a while. I think I've had enough of being the 'bad guy' for now."

The filly looked skeptical.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" She asked. Discord raised an eyebrow. Of course somepony else didn't trust him.

"Well how do I know YOU'RE telling the truth?" Discord countered.

"Because I have no reason to lie." The filly pouted.

"Yeah. Sure." Discord replied. The filly frowned at him.

"How can I prove it to you?" The filly asked. She was REALLY pushy about this, it was almost annoying. Discord wondered why he even told her the story at all.

Then Discord thought of something. If the filly was asleep then…

"How about this. You can 'keep an eye on me' by sticking with me. Along the way you can try to convince me to go w/ you and I can try to convince you I'm not 'up to anything.' First person to convince the other wins." Discord suggested as he crossed his arms as if he just won an argument. The filly looked to the side as she thought.

" _Of course it'll be YOUR job to stick with me. If I so happen to say… wipe your memory while you sleep and escape, it'll be your job to remember and follow me._ " Discord thought. Discord knew for a fact that the spell would work if the victim was asleep. They are the most vulnerable at that point. Besides, plan B would be to just run.

Discord didn't notice the filly began smiling as she got lost in her thought. Then her smile dropped as she made up her mind.

"Alright! You got a deal!" The filly said as she politely held up her hoof for a hoofshake. Discord looked at the hoof like it was a weird object before finally shaking her hoof.

"So… What do you usually do?" The filly asked with a bright smile. If Discord didn't know any better he would assume the filly was enjoying this.

"Oh you know. Lay around, read books, contemplate my life choices, the usual." Discord lied. Well actually that wasn't a lie since that's what he's been usually doing for the past week. Besides, the sooner the filly fell asleep the better.

"Oh." The filly went as if he just crushed all her excitement. She then began stuffing everything back into her sack.

"Did you expect me to say 'fight against the Elements of Harmony take over Equestria?'" Discord asked. The filly looked dumbfounded for a second before she shook her head.

"No it's just that… Nevermind." The filly went as she approached the cloud.

"What is it?" Discord asked.

"I just thought that you'd be more… Fun" The filly admitted as she tossed her sack on the cloud. Discord's jaw dropped open. Did she just call him boring?

"Do you at least have any good books?" She asked as she climbed on the cloud.

Somepony called him boring. Some FILLY called him boring. Discord, the master of chaos, has been called boring BY A FILLY. To chaos with the plan! He'll just wait till she goes to sleep later tonight.

"You want to see fun?" Discord asked in a low tone as the cloud ascended quickly. The filly squealed a bit from the shock. Then the cloud came to a halt.

"I'll show you fun."

* * *

 _ **My Notes =**_

 ** _There's about 2 or 3 things in this chapter that will be re-mentioned/significant later. Maybe you could say I foreshadowed a few things? ;)_**

 ** _Anyways, not much else to say about this chapter. It may look like filler but it does highlight some stuff. Regardless I hope my writing is getting to the point where it's enjoyable. xD_**

Don't worry **Kookies 15** , I'm stuck in the ship too. We need more ships! xD

 _ **Another note:**_

 _ **I'm debating whether or not to include some other ponies for Discord to meet. I probably wont because I want it to be centered around Discord and the filly. BTW yes I know I haven't mentioned the filly's name yet but that's for a good reason! :D**_

 _ **Anyways, thanks for reading! PM me some feedback if you feel it's necessary. Take care and prepare for Spring Break! :D**_


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 _Applejack could hear the sound of a ruster off in the distance. She felt the heat of the sun on her face and some birds chirping. Applejack grumbled a bit from the brightness of the sun and sat up. She almost didn't want to get out of her bed, but she knew there was work to be done and she wasn't going to begin slaking._

 _Applejack, eyes still adjusting to the brightness of her room, feels around the headboard of her bed for her hat. She didn't feel it anywhere._

 _ **CHOMP!**_

 _Grumbling, she stands up from her bed, eyes still shut, and felt herself step on it. With a content smile she reaches down, feels it a bit to be sure it's her hat, and places it on her head. Ready to start the day._

 _ **CHOMP!**_

" _Winona! I told yah' to stop chewing on the furniture!" Applejack called out. She felt too tired to be dealing with her playful pet at the moment._

 _Not hearing a response, nor another chomp, Applejack rubbed her eyes but kept them closed as she headed downstairs. She probably would've tumbled down the stairs if she wasn't so familiar with the house._

 _ **CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!**_

" _Winona!" Applejack called out furiously. She heard Winona's whimper._

" _T-That's not Winona" the familiar voice of Applebloom replied. Applejack managed to pry her eyes open only to gasp in horror to the scene in front of her._

 _Parasprites, hundreds of them, swarming the house._

 _Applejack rubbed her eyes again to make sure her eyes wasn't playing tricks on her. No, this is really happening._

 _ **CHOMP! CHOMP!**_

 _The sounds of chewing and biting filled the air. The walls had holes and most of what's left of the furniture had bite marks on them. Applebloom was standing on top of a table, swinging at the air with a frying pan to try and scare them off._

" _Stay back you vermin!" Applebloom threatened as she continued swinging. The response she got was a group of parasprites swooping down and chomping on her frying pan. "Gah!" Applebloom went as she let the pan fall to the floor, parasprites followed it down and soon enough it was gone. Applebloom looked at Applejack with pleading eyes._

" _This is getting out of hoof!" Applebloom yelled. Applejack felt something tug on het hat to which she instinctively grabbed it._

" _Hey!" Applejack exclaimed as the parasprites retreated off her head. They may eat her house and all her apples, which they were strangely ignoring, but she'll sooner move out of Ponyville to sell oranges than let anypony steal her hat._

 _The Parasprites sensed Applejack's anger and decided to retreat. To which Applejack smirked. She then looked around and noticed something._

" _Where is Big Mac and Granny Smith?" Applejack asked. Applebloom hopped down and ran to Applejack._

" _They're outside ah' think. Maybe they're defending the animals?" Applebloom asked in a worried tone. To which Applejack grabbed her hoof and led her to the door._

" _We don't have a moment to lose!" Applejack declared as she pushed the door open. What resulted was the door sliding forward then falling. Then immediately a group of Parasprites began munching on it._

 _Deciding defending was a lost cause, Applejack and Applebloom stepped out and began looking around. Both of them looked in opposite directions and gasped._

" _There they are!" Applebloom yelled as she sped off. Applejack on the other hand growled._

" _That no good trouble-maker" Applejack said in a low town as she ran the other direction towards the figure._

 _As she approached the figure's long snake-like body turned around like it just noticed her approaching. The figure was standing in the shadows like it didn't want to be seen. Though Applejack expected that from a trickster._

" _Discord!" Applejack yelled as she got closer._

 _On a normal day she would've angrily scolded him. He would've teleported to her, usually by teleporting inside her hat, and just laughed at her expression. She would've threatened to tie him up, make him do more farm work, or (his least favorite punishment) tell Fluttershy. Then after some threatening (or punishing) he would finally undo everything he did._

 _But he didn't. He never undid any of it. In fact all she saw was a purple flame approach her and everything going blank._

* * *

"Applejack!" Rainbow's voice yelled effectively snapping Applejack back to reality. After some recollecting she smiled apologetically.

"Heh. Sorry. Guess ah' got a bit distracted." Applejack admitted. Rainbow gave a skeptical look before muttering something and returning to her spot. She took one more glance at Applejack, as if to make sure she was still there, then looked towards Pinkie. Rainbow had an expression that Rainbow couldn't decide if it was confusion or fear, then Rainbow looked away and soared back into the air.

Finally leaving Rainbow's sight, Applejack let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She hoped Rainbow wouldn't be this intimidating next time.

No matter how hard Applejack focused, she couldn't stop thinking about the whole situation. She couldn't put her hoof on it but something wasn't right. She was sure it was Discord she ran into, it was hard to mistake him for anypony else considering his body shape, but regardless she had a hunch she missed something.

Something about it would be the key to proving Discord was innocent, assuming her hunch was correct, but what is it? What did she miss?

"Careful Dashie!" Pinkie called out. Applejack took one glimpse at Pinkie before looking back towards the show above, which she was paying very little attention to.

Despite paying little attention, Applejack could see Rainbow was going slower than usual. Also her turns weren't as sharp as they usually were. She was either out of practice, which Applejack would never believe, or Rainbow wasn't focused.

"Do you know what she's doing?"

The voice almost made Applejack fall over. She didn't recognize the voice and she instantly turned down to find the culprit. Nopony was around but Pinkie. Was it her? It kind of sounded like Pinkie Pie, but in a non-Pinkie tone.

After a few seconds of silence, Pinkie chuckled.

"Me neither. It's not like we can pretend it never happened right?" Pinkie continued, her eyelids half closed like she was tired yet she still smiled. "She's not even focused. She peaks over at us whenever she dives down or lands."

Applejack, with a confused expression, looked back towards Rainbow Dash's stunts. Sure enough after observing her closely, she did notice Rainbow would peak over. Was that why she was flying slower?

"Ah' didn't notice." Applejack admitted.

"I'm not sure what she's doing. Is she making sure we're watching or making sure we're staying?" Pinkie asked. Applejack got chills by how… upset pinkie sounded. It hurt her to hear Pinkie talk like this.

"Listen Pinkie, ah' know it hurts now but-" Applejack began.

"Oh! Don't worry about me Jackie!" Pinkie exclaimed with a surprised expression.

"…Jackie?" Applejack questioned.

"I'm just worried about Rainbow. She's not her usual self. I've even seen her do these stunts before and she usually makes up new ones." Pinkie pointed out.

Applejack adjusted her hat a bit.

"Ah' guess she can't focus either huh? She must be worried about us." Applejack replied.

"That's great! Not the part where she's worried but the part that she cares about us enough to be worried for us." Pinkie quickly sang.

"I guess… But what about you?" Applejack asked.

"I'm worried about Rainbow and the others too. I'm even planning a cheer-up party for-"

"No Pinkie. I mean what about YOU." Applejack interrupted.

Pinkie looked over to Applejack, eye to eye, which gave Applejack some chills.

"What about me?" Pinkie asked looking confused.

"Ah'm worried for you." Applejack replied.

"Oooooooooh. Why?" Pinkie asked.

Applejack looked at Pinkie like she was lying.

"Well, you were his self-proclaimed second best friend." Applejack replied.

"We can worry about me later" Pinkie simply put.

"No. We can't." Applejack replied.

"Yes we can."

"No we won't!" Applejack yelled being furious.

"C'mon Jackie. There are more important things to worry about, like-"

"You ARE important Pinkie!"

"But the others are MORE important than I am, besides I'm fine!" Pinkie sang, sound less convincing.

"Pinkie! Stop that!" Applejack finally yelled out in fury, making Pinkie stumble back a bit.

"Oh I'm sorry! Was i-"

"I said stop!"

"Huh?"

"Stop pretending like everything is fine with you! Ah' know for a fact you're just as messed up about this as ah' am!" Applejack declared.

"No- Uh- I'm fine!" Pinkie pleaded.

"In that case, Pinkie promise."

"Huh?"

"Ya'll heard me! Pinkie Promise me that you're fine!" Applejack said as she crossed her hooves.

"Oh… Alright I will!" Pinkie said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Ah'm waiting" Applejack replied.

Pinkie lifted up her right hoof and, slowly, brought it to her chest. Looking unsure like she has never done it before.

"Uh… Cross my… heart" Pinkie started. She then lifted both her hoofs, again slowly, and nearly lost her balance. She looked up at Applejack as if asking if she could stop, but Applejack's face didn't budge. Finally Pinkie just sighed and put both her hooves down.

"I can't" Pinkie finally replied.

"Oh? Why not?" Applejack asked in a knowing tone.

"Because I… Can't break a Pinkie Promise…" Pinkie admitted.

"That's true, so ah' guess I got my answer huh?" Applejack asked.

"What answer?" a voice asked from behind, making Pinkie freeze up. Rainbow Dash.

"Uh… Erm… Hi Dashie…?" Pinkie tried. Rainbow just rolled her eyes. Applejack guessed that Rainbow noticed them not watching for a while, but what she didn't know is how long had she been listening.

"Jeez girls, what's the point of me being awesome if nopony is going to watch?" Rainbow joked. Applejack responds by rolling her eyes. Rainbow slowly walked towards Pinkie, who was still facing away, and gently placed a hoof to her shoulder.

"Listen Pinkie. I'm not going to just sit by and let you be miserable. I want to-" Rainbow started but stopped when Pinkie sharply turned.

"You want to WHAT rainbow?" Pinkie sternly asked, taking both Rainbow and Applejack by surprise. This definitely didn't feel like Pinkie.

"You want me to let my hair down and be sad? You want me to reunite with Rocky and again?" Pinkie asked in an angry tone. Pinkie has never looked this… ticked off before.

Rainbow looked at a loss for words, which was rare, so Applejack decided to step in.

"We don't want you to be sad sugarcube, but bottling it up ain't gonna do you any good." Applejack retorted. Pinkie turned to her with a vicious look on her face, making Applejack gulp.

"Well I'm sorry Applejack" Pinkie started, emphasizing Applejack's name. " I have to bottle it up and keep it chained up. Don't you remember what happened last time?"

Applejack, still a little stunned, couldn't process what Pinkie said. She has done this before?

"What do you mean 'last time?'" Rainbow asked. "For as long as I've known you, you've always been very hyper. There's no way you've been hiding your feelings."

"That's not what I meant!" Pinkie turned to Rainbow. "Don't you remember when Twilight had that spell that made me work!?"

"Huh?" Both Applejack and Rainbow went.

"The day Twilight got wings!" Pinkie added.

"…You mean when we got our cutie marks switched?" Rainbow asked.

"Ah' remember! You were working at the barn." Applejack added.

"Exactly!" Pinkie yelled, turning away from them. "When I stopped being the 'happy naïve party pony' for barely a day EVERYPONY turned on each other!" Pinkie yelled, sounding like it was a complaint rather than a statement.

Both Applejack and Rainbow wanted to counter that, but Pinkie was right. The town quickly went sour after Pinkie stopped being Pinkie. Not to mention that lately it has been a little weird around other ponies lately.

"If I start being sad, then everypony else will be sad also! It'll just make me sadder, which will make everypony sadder too! I can't let that happen! Especially since this is MY fault!" Pinkie yells.

"Woah woah Pinkie hold up. This isn't your fault." Rainbow retorted.

"But it is! I was the one who swore to be everypony's friend! I was the one who promised Fluttershy that I'd help make Discord another good friend of ours! I must've messed up! I failed her! I failed myself! I failed Discord! I failed everypony in ponyville! Everypony who's ever counted on me!" Pinkie whined.

Rainbow dash, not being able to hear anymore of this, approached Pinkie and put a hoof on her back.

"Pinkie." Rainbow gently yet sternly said.

Pinkie had turned to her friends, tears running down her eyes. Rainbow and Applejack could see all the pain Pinkie was holding back. She was also shaking a little.

A few seconds of silence go by before Pinkie quickly turned and hugged Rainbow. Rainbow Dash wasn't caught off guard, she knew Pinkie needed this.

"It's just… How can I let myself be sad if it makes everypony else miserably?" Pinkie asked in a whisper.

Not many ponies would recognize such a quiet and scared voice. Luckily, and unfortunately, Rainbow had seen her close friend like this before and knew what to do. Rainbow gently hugged Pinkie.

"Listen Pinkie. This is not your fault. If it anypony's fault it's mine. I pushed the dummy away by avoiding him all the time. It might've been what caused him to turn on us. At least you tried to be friends with him." Rainbow stated. Pinkie pushed herself away.

"But, I messed up and-"

"You didn't mess up. Discord messed up!" Rainbow retorted.

"I…"

"Even if you did mess up, who cares? Nopony blames you for what happened. I mess up all the time! Do you believe I can be this awesome all the time?" Rainbow joked.

"Ah' sure don't think so." Applejack added, earning a small chuckle from Pinkie. At this point it was music to their ears.

"Exactly. We all mess up every now and then. Heck I even broke a wing in one of my stunts remember? I totally messed up." Rainbow reminded. Pinkie gave a small smile.

"Yeah… And then you broke into Twilight's library to steal a book." Pinkie chuckled along with Applejack. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"The point is we can spend all our time crying about our mistakes…." Rainbow began.

"Or as Granny Smith told me, we can learn from it" Applejack finished. Pinkie wiped the few stray tears from her eyes.

"I guess your both right, but still what about everypony in ponyville?" She asked.

"Ah'm sure they can handle things without you for a while. Right now it's important you take the time you need." Applejack reassured.

Pinkie looked at the floor beneath her. Both Applejack and Rainbow held their breaths for her response. It felt like hours had gone by before she finally looked up.

"But… What do I do now?" She asked.

Rainbow gave an encouraging smile.

"Well what do you want to do?" Rainbow responded. Pinkie put a hoof under her chin.

"I want… to keep the friends that really matter to me! And that's you girls!" Pinkie declared as she pulled both Applejack and Rainbow in for a hug. They sighed in relief as a response. But then she gasped. "Oh no! What about Fluttershy?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Rainbow replied.

* * *

Discord couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed himself this much. It's been such a long time he has ever done some of his chaos without worrying about being spotted or revealed. For once, he was glad to have somepony (other than Fluttershy) around.

Discord was brought out of his train of thought when he heard the sound of glass tapping. He placed the book he was pretending to read down and looked over to the fish bowl he created.

"Everything alright in there?" Discord called down. The filly responded by hopelessly trying to call out for him, which only resulted in bubbles forming out of her mouth. Discord raised his palm to his ears.

"Sorry, didn't quiet catch that." Discord joked. The filly, looking extremely irritated, continued on forming bigger bubbles. Discord shrugged.

"I guess you don't want anything" He said as laid back down on his chair and held up his book. More tapping ensued and he replied with a chuckle.

It felt so natural for him to be doing this. Maybe after all this the Filly will finally leave him alone? It's not like the filly could do anything anyways. It's not like anypony could stop him.

It was just like old times.

"HEY!" a small voice called out. Discord took a glance at the fishbowl. The filly managed to float to the top of the bowl and was holding on to the edge.

"Oh look. You figured out how to swim upwards. I told you it was just instinct." Discord joked.

The filly, completely soaked, look like she was on the verge of beating him down.

"Turn me back! I don't like being this small!" She yelled out.

"Why? I thought you wanted to have some fun." Discord joked.

"THIS IS NOT FUN!"

"On the contraire, this is quiet fun for me."

"Discord!" The filly yelled.

Discord sighed. "Suit yourself" he replied as he snapped his fingers. A white flash appears and the filly was brought back to her original size. Although she was still soaked.

"Finally" she mumbled as she shook herself dry. That's the last time she tempts the spirit of chaos.

"Anything else you wanna do?" Discord asked as he hovered to her.

"No!" She yells. Discord holds up his hands.

"Alright alright. No need to be so angry." Discord joked. The filly grumbled as she walked over to her sack. If he had gotten that wet she would really have gotten angry, but he at least kept that dry.

She began inspecting the things inside to be sure he didn't take anything. Or more specifically to make sure he didn't see anything.

"Whatcha looking at?" Discord asked. It was only then when the filly realized Discord shrunk himself and was sitting on her head. She quickly placed her sack down.

"Nothing" she stated firmly.

"Oh come now! You gotta let me see now!" Discord sang as he jumped down to the sack. The filly reacted by pulling the sack away and placing back on her back. Discord pouter and grew back to his normal size.

"Alright look, I'm not gonna lie, you're kind of my idol" The filly started.

"Oh really? That's a new one." Discord joked.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'll just let you do whatever you want. We need to put some rules-"

"And that's where I draw the line" Discord joked as he held his hands up. The filly sighed.

 **This isn't going to be easy.**

"Well, I'm going to sleep." The filly stated as she reached into her sack. Discord arched an eyebrow.

"Sleep?" He asked.

"Yes. Thanks to you, I used up a lot of my energy swimming." She added. Discord chuckled.

"I already told you that you wouldn't drown" Discord insisted. He did temporarily give her the ability to breath underwater, but of course he would be vague about that.

"Still, I'm tired." She replied, now having pulled out the blanket and pillow from her sack.

Discord was confused. Fillies are usually very hyper, even at her age. Come to think of it, sleeping outside isn't always a good option. Wasn't it raining a few nights ago? How healthy, or rather unhealthy, was this filly to be tired out so quickly?

Discord shook his head at these thoughts. He shouldn't care. Last time he cared it didn't end well.

"Fine, we'll take a quick nap." Discord agreed. The best pranks are done at night anyways. He quickly conjured up a luxurious bed with a lamp stand and positioned himself on the top of a tree.

The filly looked up to his bed.

"Hey, can you make me a bed?" She asked. Discord hummed.

"I'm pretty tired, I don't think I have the energy to make up another bed." Discord joked.

Before the filly could do anything, he had already summed up a (not as luxurious) bed beneath her and positioned her next to him.

"Oh. Tha-"

"Nighty night" Discord interrupted as he clapped his hands. The lamp then made a clicking noise, but it didn't do anything.

"Uh… What's the lamp for?" The filly asked. Discord shrugged jokingly and put on a sleep-mask and turned away from the filly. The filly rolled her eyes and laid back into her new bed, being sure to put everything back into her sack.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Surprise! I'm not dead!

Really sorry about the hiatus. I haven't had much inspiration for FanFiction for a while. Maybe I'm just lazy. I know that's a lame excuse, but hopefully I'll get my writing spark back up so I won't take as long.

(Also thanks to Stewie Cartman for messaging me about this. I'll try to update again within a month.)


	8. Chapter 7

***So my PC's harddrive failed a few days after finishing the draft to this chapter so I lost all the notes and ideas from my Draft. Sorry if the writing in this chapter is bad compared to the others since this is mostly from memory. Thanks goodness I have a laptop.***

 **Chapter 7**

As Fluttershy and Rarity walked into the lobby, Fluttershy could smell the clean fragment of soap in the air. It felt like years since Fluttershy has been here, and Rarity acted like it's been eons since her last visit.

"I still can't believe I stayed away for almost a WEEK. Ohhh my skin must be getting wrinkly now" Rarity whined as she rubbed her hoof on her cheeks.

As Rarity walked up to the counter for her usual appointment, Fluttershy couldn't help but stare at the ground. The floor was clean, as expected from a spa, and Fluttershy could see her reflection on the ground. She thought she looked disgusting. Her mane was a mess and it's obvious she had been crying from the roughness in her eyes.

Normally she'd be more upset about looking like this in public, she had received a few glares and worried looks from ponies as they walked here, but today she didn't care.

No wait. Should care. She can't let Discord's mistake get to her. Fluttershy thought about how Discord would hate this place. All the organizing and cleanness would bug him.

"This way Darling" a voice said, probably Rarity's voice, but Fluttershy was too lost in her thoughts to focus. In fact the only reason that she even made it to the mud-bath room was because Rarity was gently guiding her, like she knew Fluttershy needed her help.

The moment they were within jumping range of the mud bath, Rarity squealed in delight loud enough for Fluttershy to be brought back to reality.

"Oh I'm so glad to finally be back!" Rarity called as she stepped into the bath, letting out a satisfied sigh as she slid deeper in, making sure her head didn't get submerged.

Fluttershy eyed the pool carefully before stepping in. It didn't feel as relaxing as she remembered, but it was still a nice feeling.

"Isn't it nice Fluttershy?" Rarity asked. Fluttershy turned to her, but Rarity had her eyes closed as if lost in her own thought. "I absolutely love this place. You just lay back and relax, forgetting everything."

Fluttershy looked away from her, but Rarity continued.

"Before the whole... incident, I haven't been selling many dresses. Now with the townsponies on edge without Pinkie, I don't think I'll be able to make any sells any time soon. I worry for Sweetie Belle and I." Rarity said in a manner-of-fact tone. That got Fluttershy's attention.

"Oh my, do you have enough to eat?" Fluttershy asked.

"Of course. We have some bits saved up, but it won't last forever." Rarity clarified.

"Oh…" Fluttershy went. The words won't last forever echoed in her mind. "Then… Why did you go to the spa?"

"Simple. Because both you and I needed this." Rarity replied.

"Needed this?" Fluttershy questioned.

"I know Discord hurt you darling. He hurt all of us. You needed something to take your mind off him. Discord never took you here correct?" Rarity asked. Fluttershy didn't need to answer, it was obvious that in all the locations Discord would visit, the spa was probably at the bottom.

"Here we can relax and forget about that jerk. Right?" Rarity asked, finally opening and eye to Fluttershy.

To Fluttershy this was basically impossible. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget about Discord. He was the only one she could genuinely open up too. He was the only one who would encourage her to do things she'd never do alone.

He was the only one she ever loved.

She sighed. Rarity was right. Thinking of Discord was bad for her. She hated what he did and at the same time she loved who he was. She wanted nothing more than to forget about him. Yet she also didn't want to forget him.

Deciding to follow Rarity's advice, she relaxed into the spa and began to drift off. She didn't fall asleep, but she was definitely daydreaming. Maybe if she waited long enough, it would feel like how she remembered.

* * *

This was definitely a sight to see.

When Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow decided to see how Fluttershy was doing they didn't expect to see Twilight picking berries, with her hooves.

"Hey Dashie" Pinkie whispered. Rainbow's eyes were glued to Twilight.

"What is Twilight doing?" Pinkie whispered.

"Picking berries?" Rainbow said in an unsure tone. As they approached the cottage, Twilight had finally managed to pull off a berry and was carefully using her magic so she could stand on her hind-legs.

"Howdy Twilight…?" Applejack called.

Twilight gave a small "mmhmmm" as she slowly began making her way back inside the cottage.

"What are you doing?" Rainbow asked, looking more worried than terrified.

"Feeding Angel" Twilight responded.

"How come you're using your hooves?" Rainbow added.

"Because I need my magic to balance myself." Twilight responded.

"Why not use your magic to hold the berry?" Applejack asked.

"Because Angel doesn't like the taste of magic on his berries." Twilight responded as the finally made it through the door.

"You can taste magic?" Pinkie asked.

"Apparently" Twilight said in an annoyed tone. They made their way to Angel bunny who was impatiently waiting next to a bowl full of berries.

"Why not just use your mouth?" Rainbow asked. Twilight carefully placed the berry with the other berries and looked at Angel with pleading eyes. After a few seconds of inspecting it, Angel gave a nod of approval.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief and turned to Rainbow.

"Because Angel thinks ponies eat disgusting food and doesn't want the taste of what we eat on his berries" Twilight responded with a satisfied grin. Pinkie scratched her head.

"Wait. Angel doesn't like the taste of magic but he's fine with tasting the floor? You know since that's what we step on all the time?" Pinkie asked.

Angel's eye widened like it just now realized this, gave a small huff, and harshly smacked the bolw of berries to the floor. To wish Twilight stared at with disbelief and then turned to Pinkie.

"Pinkie!" Twilight yelled. Pinkie's ears dropped and she smiled sheepishly.

"Oops hehe." Pinkie went as Rainbow and Applejack face-hoofed. Twilight let out a frustrated sigh.

"I guess I better look for something to pick berries with…" Twilight said. Pinkie perked up.

"Oh! Oh! I can do it!" Pinkie eagerly said as she raised her hoof.

"How would you even… You know what nevermind. PLEASE help me Pinkie." Twilight sighed.

"Don't worry Twilight, I'm a certified Angel Feeder!" Pinkie said with a salute and ran outside. Angel angrily stomped his foot on the floor and ran outside with Pinkie. Angel had gone a week without a proper meal (at least for him) and was going to make sure he got one today. Besides, he didn't want Applejack feeding him again.

"Wow. Pinkie is acting more… Pinkie today." Twilight stated with a smile. Rainbow snatched Applejack's hat.

"Yup. She just needed some cool friends like us." Rainbow said as she put the hat on. Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Ah' think we still have a long way to go. How has Fluttershy been doing?." Applejack asked.

Twilight thought back to all the days she has been visiting Fluttershy. It started off with Twilight just talking to Fluttershy through the door until the 5th day where she actually opened the door for her.

Twilight was in no way a psychiatrist but she knew eventually Fluttershy would open up to her.

"She's doing a lot better. She and Rarity went to the spa to relax actually. That's why I was feeding Angel today." Twilight clarified.

"He wasn't this picky when ah' was feeding him" Applejack asked as she took her hat back from Rainbow.

"Twilight!" The familiar voice of Spike called from outside. Soon after, the purple dragon came running into the cottage, gasping for air.

"Spike?" Twilight asked.

"You got a *pant* letter from the princess. It *pant* kind of important." Spike said. Twilight had asked Spike to handle her mail while she was taking care of Fluttershy and to only interrupt if it was an absolute emergency. She didn't usually get mail and she trusted Spike to read it, but a letter from the princess would be important regardless.

"Thank you Spike" Twilight said as she took the scroll and opened it up with her magic.

Her eyes quickly scanned the contents of the letter, her eyes widening as she began reaching the end of the letter. She shook her head and looked at Spike.

"Go get the elements Spike!" She ordered. Spike nodded and ran back out.

"Whats up?" Rainbow asked. Twilight gave them a worried expression.

"Canterlot, no, all of Equestria is in danger." She stated.

* * *

As it turns out, Celestia had ordered a chariot to go and pick them all up soon after Spike received the letter. With their elements the six of them made their way to Canterlot to see the Princesses.

"Ohh, I'm never going to get a full spa day" Rarity whined.

"So are you going to tell us what's wrong?" Rainbow asked Twilight. The others, except for Fluttershy, turned to her. Twilight looked around and whispered.

"Celestia said she found a Changeling." She stated.

"WHAT?" The other 4 shouted in unision.

"Celestia told me that Luna found and captured a changeling while it was transforming into a guard. The changeling is being interrogated but they didn't get much out of it." Twilight clarified.

"So what's the problem? They captured it, the threat is gone right?" Rainbow asked.

"It isn't that simple Rainbow." Twilight said.

"Yeah. Last time they looked just like us!" Pinkie reminded.

"They could be anywhere and anypony. Who knows how many Changelings are in Canterlot or even Ponyville." Applejack thought out loud.

"So what are we going to do?" Rarity asked.

"Celestia wants to discuss something with me in private, after that we'll stay in Canterlot for a while and investigate. Maybe I can get a changeling disguise detector spell working before anything goes wrong." Twilight said.

"What does Celestia want to talk to you about?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'll tell you girls after." Twilight said.

Rainbow stood up.

"Alright everypony! Until Twilight gets her spell working, we trust NOPONY." Rainbow declared.

 _Trust nopony_ Fluttershy thought to herself. _Discord isn't a pony though._ She shook her head at that thought.

"Rainbow is right. Until we know for sure who is a changeling and who isn't, we can't be sure whoever we talk to can be trusted. They could be anypony and anywhere." Twilight agreed.

* * *

As the sound of Discord's exaggerated snoring filled the air, a dark figure approached the sleeping chaos being. The figure eyed Discord to be sure he was indeed sleeping before it took a deep breath.

It needed to be careful or it would wake up Discord. As it stands the dark figure stood no chance against Discord, not yet anyways. This spell would fix that.

The figure concentrated on the spell, which made both them and Discord faintly glow. Discord stopped snoring during this, but the figure continued. After a few seconds, they were complete and both of them stopped glowing.

Discord then continued to snore, which was a relief to the figure since it meant he didn't wake up. Now all they had to do was wait.

The spell would eventually drain Discord, and then they can continue to part two of their plan.

* * *

When the six of them finally reached the castle it was night. They all made their way inside, where the two Princesses where waiting.

"Princess Celestia" Twilight greeted as the others bowed. Celestia smiled.

"I'm so glad you all made it safe and sound. I'm sure Twilight has filled you all in on what's going on." Celestia stated.

"You bet Princess. We are ready to kick some Changeling butt!" Rainbow declared.

"It may not be so easy" Luna said. "We may have dealt with the Changelings before, but this time we will have to deal with them and-" Luna was interrupted by Celestia putting a hoof to her shoulder, signaling her to halt.

"Them and what?" Twilight asked. Celestia closed her eyes and smiled.

"It's nearing night. It may be best to save that conversation for tomorrow." Celestia finished.

"I shall escort you all to the bed chambers" Luna offered as she began heading out the door, she waved her hoof over to signal them to follow her.

Right as Twilight turned to follow her, she caught a glimpse of Celestia. She shook her head.

Twilight knew what that meant and she stayed put while the others followed Luna outside, the doors closing behind them. After Twilight could no longer hear the sounds of hoofsteps, she finally spoke up.

"What's wrong Princess?" Twilight asked. Celestia let out a breath, like she was waiting to tell her this all day.

"I'm afraid it isn't just the Changelings we are dealing with Twilight." Celestia said.

Before Twilight could ask, Celestia looked at Twilight dead in the eyes.

"I'm afraid Discord has escaped."

* * *

It was dark outside as they made their way to the statue. Maybe Celestia was mistaking. There's no way Discord could escape so quickly. It's only been a week! Last time it was YEARS ago! They aren't ready to deal with him. Especially Fluttershy.

When they finally arrived, all of Twilight's hopes were shattered.

It was a faint difference, but Twilight could never forget the look on Discord's face. The statue's stance was the same, but instead of defeat it looked angry. There's no way Discord could manipulate the statue unless he was outside of it.

"You're right." Twilight agreed. Celestia nodded.

"I only realized today. Luna and I have no idea for how long he has been out for, but we do believe he is working for the Changelings." Celestia said.

"You do?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. The guard who was a Changeling was eyeing the statue of Discord intensely as we approached it. When we asked about Discord, it looked very nervous. The Changelings plotting as soon as Discord escapes is too much of a coincidence. They had to have known or helped him escape." Celestia said.

Twilight wanted to believe that Discord couldn't stoop any lower, but sadly she was mistaking.

"Ugh! Why can't he just…!" Twilight began but stopped herself. Princess Celestia was right there.

Celestia's ears dropped.

"It pains me to put this burden on you Twilight, but I'm afraid you'll need to inform the others" Celestia said. Twilight froze.

"...Even Fluttershy?" She asked. Celestia nodded sadly.

"Not yet though. I don't spend enough time with you six, I don't know when they'll be ready to hear this news. I'm entrusting you with this Twilight. Inform them when they are ready." Celestia said in a stern, yet sad, voice. Twilight looked up at her.

"What if… She's never ready?" Twilight asked.

"She will be, but not without her friends." Celestia said. "Do not wait too long my faithful student. If Discord appears before they know, it could make them too angry or sad for logic which is exactly what Discord would want."

Twilight knew Celestia was right. If Discord appeared right now, Fluttershy would be too lost to use her elements, maybe even Pinkie. Rainbow would be too angry or act too hastily. Not to mention Twilight despised Discord, but she could handle being rational. She knew she could tell Rarity about this, but Applejack was a horrible liar.

One thing is for sure, they would collide with Discord. It won't be pretty.

* * *

 **Author's note** : Time to get this plot moving! Looking back I wish I made the timeskip from the prologue and first chapter longer than a week, but whatever it is what it is. Not much to say about this chapter except be prepared for some (somewhat-mysterious) filly and Discord bonding and some Changeling plan. I obviously won't spoil all the events, but you'll get a pretty good idea what the Changelings are planning (and if they actually helped Discord or not).

Remember, not everything is as it seems. I am leaving clues as to what really happened that day and the only way you'll figure it out is through Applejack's thoughts.

I can imagine a lot of us would fanboy/fangirl over Discord **icetheirkenfemale** if they knew how awesome he is. Especially as fillies xD  
Also thanks (again) for telling me about the grammar mistake. I corrected it.

 ** _One again thank you all for ready my story and I shall speak to you again in the next chapter. Have a good winter/spring!_**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 _Twilight took a deep breath in, trying to calm her nerves, as she approached the cottage. This news wouldn't be good, but Twilight didn't see any other options. For the sake of Ponyville and her own sanity, this needed to be done. Besides, Discord was due to give his weekly report._

 _Twilight knocked on the door and almost immediately Fluttershy answered the door._

" _Oh hello Twilight! I didn't expect to see you!" Fluttershy said with a big smile. Twilight could only guess what Discord and Fluttershy were discussing._

" _Hey Fluttershy. Is Discord here?" Twilight asked, although she already knew the answer. Fluttershy put on a convincing face and a hoof under her chin._

" _No actually, he didn't show up today. I'm a little worried about him. Why?" Fluttershy asked, adding a smile to the end of that._

 _Twilight didn't look amused and after a few seconds, Fluttershy's smile brightened and she giggled._

" _Alright yes he is here. Did I look convincing?" Fluttershy asked with a hopeful smile. Twilight shook her head._

" _Actually yes, I would have been fooled if I didn't notice that purple worm in your mane." Twilight pointed out. The worm in question wiggled its way to Fluttershy's nose._

" _Hello giant pony. I am Twilight the Bookworm." The familiar sounding worm joked. Twilight rolled her eyes._

" _Discord I assume you know why I'm here?" Twilight asked. The worm flashed white, turning back to his Draconequus body, and teleported behind Twilight._

" _Why of course, how could I forget? It's in my job description." Discord said as he wiggled the piece of paper in question in front of Twilight's face._

 _She didn't bother turning around as she grabbed a hold of it and began scanning it. Discord crossed his arms and smiled contently. He was actually proud of how this report came out, and he expect Twilight to be surprised. Twilight looked up to Fluttershy._

" _And you saw this report?" Twilight asked Fluttershy._

" _Oh yes, he has been behaving very good lately" Fluttershy said with a bright smile. Twilight looked at Discord._

" _Then care to explain why all the milk in my fridge was changed to chocolate milk?" Twilight asked in an almost monotone voice. Discord held his arms up._

" _Accusing me of something Princess?" Discord asked with a knowing smile._

" _Actually yes I am. Who else would've done this?" Twilight asked._

 _Fluttershy giggled. "Yeah Discord, who else could've done such an amazing and harmless prank like that?" Fluttershy asked, prompting Twilight to turn to her. Twilight's jaw dropped and Discord just face-palmed._

" _Gotta work on being subtle" Discord thought._

" _Fluttershy?" Twilight asked._

" _Yes Twilight?" Fluttershy asked._

" _YOU DID IT?" Twilight asked in disbelief. Discord began laughing at Twilight's reaction. Fluttershy just nodded._

" _I wanted to try pranking somepony today" Fluttershy admitted._

 _Twilight, not convinced, turned to Discord with an enraged faced._

" _You convinced her to do this didn't you?" she accused._

" _That I'll admit too" Discord said with a smile. Discord was proficient at finding loop-holes as the report only required he say where he was and what pranks he did. Twilight just rubbed her forehead and looked at Fluttershy._

" _Fluttershy, can I speak to you... " Twilight started before she eyed Discord. "Alone?" she added. Discord chuckled as he looked at a timer._

" _I think I just beat my record of 'time before Twilight asks me to leave'" Discord joked as he began scribbling down on a notepad. "Next time I'll go for 'time before Twilight angrily yells my name'" Discord added as he teleported away._

 _Twilight turned to Fluttershy with a concerned look._

" _Fluttershy, I don't like this" Twilight began. Fluttershy gave a weak smile._

" _I'm sorry Twilight. I promise I won't prank you anymo-"_

" _No it isn't that" Twilight interrupted before pausing. "Well, yes it is that too." She looked at Fluttershy in the eyes, there was no easy way of putting this._

 _Twilight then sighed. "I don't think Discord should be in Ponyville anymore" Twilight finally said._

 _Fluttershy's smile instantly dropped._

" _What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked._

" _Discord has been causing nothing but problems for us. Do you know how many ponies come up to me with complaints about him? Rainbow Dash is tired of fighting all of these cotton candy clouds." Twilight began._

" _He can't help it. He said it's like eating for him." Fluttershy argued._

" _And I understand that, but look at what he's doing to you Fluttershy. I've never seen you prank somepony before and lie to them." Twilight said in a serious tone._

" _I-I promise I won't pull another prank!" Fluttershy tried._

" _That's not the point. You and Pinkie are the only ones who can tolerate him and he makes everypony else uneasy. I'm sure you know what he's capable of…" Twilight said._

 _Twilight could see tears forming in Fluttershy's eyes, but she knew this was for the best. Though it didn't make this any easier._

" _Please Twilight. I know he's reformed now. H-He would never hurt us!" Fluttershy tried._

" _It's not that I don't trust him-" Twilight began._

" _Really? Because that's exactly what I'm hearing." Discord's voice said from above, prompting both of them to look up. Twilight frowned._

" _Discord, I thought I asked you to leave" Twilight said._

 _Discord, clearly upset, teleported in-between Fluttershy and Twilight. He crossed his arms._

" _And I thought you trusted your friend" Discord coldly replied. He then chuckled. "Oh wait I guess I'm not your friend huh?"_

 _Fluttershy wiped away the tears in her eyes. Twilight looked down at her hooves for a moment, then back up at Discord._

" _Discord-"_

" _Leave" he ordered. Both Twilight and Fluttershy's eyes widened._

" _What?" Twilight asked._

" _You can hate me, tell me to leave, make me fill out those boring paperworks, and even take away my chaos magic, but never, EVER, hurt my Fluttershy" Discord hissed. He held up his paw to show he was ready to snap his fingers. "Now leave." He ordered again._

 _Twilight, looking nervous, could practically feel the venom in his voice. Twilight knew she stood no chance against a spirit of chaos, mostly because chaos mostly nullified unicorn magic, and she wasn't here to pick a fight. Not to mention Discord terrified her at this point, though she would never admit it._

 _Fluttershy on the other hand was in a daze. She watched Discord in awe. He stood up for her. Discord, the spirit of chaos, was threatening Celestia's student. Both of them could stone him for this. Yet there he was for her sake._

 _Twilight finally sighed in defeat._

" _Sorry for my intrusion" Twilight said. She turned and began trotting away. Twilight took one glance at the pair behind her, her expression unreadable, and continued on her way._

 _Discord made sure Twilight was out of sight before he lowered his hand and turned to the still dazed Fluttershy. He crossed his arms like he was going to be scolded._

" _I know I know. I went too far and I should have more patience with-" Discord began._

" _Thank you…" Fluttershy interrupted._

" _What?" Discord asked. Fluttershy wrapped her hoofs around Discord with a calm smile and eyes closed._

" _Thank you Discord" she said more clearly. Discord tried his best to look irritated (he does have an image to keep) but he couldn't help but smile. He gently put a paw on Fluttershy's head._

" _No problem my dear Fluttershy" he replied. Fluttershy loved it when he called her that, though she would never tell him that. She broke from the hug with a look of concern._

" _I only wish Twilight and the others knew how much you've changed." Fluttershy said sadly. Discord nodded in agreement. In reality he never expected them to be friendly to him. Ponies weren't exactly a fan of chaos._

" _Well until then" Discord said as he snapped his fingers. A small circular button appeared in front of Fluttershy. It spinned in front her eyes and she lifted her hoof to grab it. When she held it in her arms, she saw it was a two-sided button._

" _What is this?" Fluttershy asked._

" _Well it's a button of course" Discord replied innocently. Fluttershy gave him a knowing smile before he chuckled and continued. "Use this next time any of your friends give you a hard time"_

 _Fluttershy looked at one side of the button. It was a cartoon style of her face on it._

" _If you click on that side, it'll bring you to me." he clarified. Fluttershy turned it around and the other side had a cartoon Discord on it. "That side will bring me to you." he shrunk down and sat on the button._

" _Now I won't need to babysit you" Discord joked. Fluttershy smiled and held the button (and Discord) closer to her face._

" _So I guess this means you'll leave me alone?" Fluttershy joked. Discord crossed his arms and smirked._

" _You wish." He replied._

 _There was a few seconds of silence. Not uncomfortable silence but more like peaceful silence. Fluttershy was the first to speak._

" _Well I'm going to make us some tea" Fluttershy finally said, prompting Discord to flash himself back to normal size as Fluttershy headed back inside. He followed close behind._

* * *

Discord's eyes snapped open. 'Another Fluttershy dream' he bitterly thought to himself as he slowly rose up. Discord rubbed his eyes still feeling tired, which was weird considering he didn't need sleep as much as ponies did. The dream must've drained him.

Discord summoned a cup of coffee and he gulped it down. Again, it really didn't have any effect on him, but he was too tired for rational thinking. After swallowing the cup whole, he turned to the bed beside him. The filly from the previous day was turned away from him, still asleep.

Discord smiled deviously as he snapped his fingers, summoning a bucket of cold water above the filly. He quietly hovered to the bucket and got a good grip on it, before looking down at his victim.

"Don't you dare" hissed the filly below him, eyes glaring at him. Discord, sighed and snapped away the bucket.

"How long were you awake?" He asked as he went back to his bed.

"A while" she put it simply. "We went to bed pretty early yesterday, I'm surprised it took you this long to wake up."

Discord rubbed his eyes one more time before stretching, earning multiple loud (and exaggerated) cracks from his body. "How come you didn't get out of bed?" Discord asked, though he knew the answer.

The filly rolled her eyes before attempting to put a hoof out of her bed, she was met with resistance from an invisible barrier. "Willing to bet you did this" she stated boldly. Discord gasped and put a paw to his chest.

"Why, I have no idea how that happened" Discord joked as he snapped his talon hand. The filly's hoof suddenly lost the grip on the wall and she nearly fell forward with a small yelp. Discord giggled as she filly glared at him.

"I should've wondered why you were so nice w/ the beds yesterday" she hissed as she readjusted herself. The beds began to descend to the ground.

"Hey I was just making sure we were safe for the night" Discord responded. That wasn't a lie, whenever he slept he would put a barrier around himself that made him invisible. It wasn't strong enough to withstand much blasts, but it was enough to wake him up if anything broke through it.

It also blocked Luna's ability to visit his dreams. Of course she assumed he was stoned so she never made an effort, but he could never be too safe.

The filly carefully stepped out of the bed. "Finally" she mumbled as she felt the ground below her. "So… what's the agenda for today?" She asked.

Discord chuckled as he summoned a watch to his wrist and looked at it. "According to the time, it's time for some chaos" Discord joked as he showed the filly the time. The whole watch was just a regular watch with the words "chaos" written instead of numbers.

"Alright?" The filly went. "What does that mean?" she asked as she grabbed a hold of her pouch. Discord shrugged.

"Whatever comes to mind I suppose." Discord replied as he began floating forward.

"Wait where are we going?" The filly asked as she ran after him. Discord didn't respond as he continued on his way.

* * *

"Good morning everypony" Twilight said as she headed towards the large table the rest of her friends were sitting at.

"Howdy Twilight" Applejack said looking a bit ticked off. Before Twilight could ask, she noticed Rarity had Applejack's hat beside her.

Rainbow was sitting with an amused look on her face. "Take a seat and enjoy the show" Rainbow said. Applejack shot her a glare.

"It ain't funny!" She growled as she turned back to Rarity. "Ya'll better give me ma' hat back."

Rarity shook her head. "We are sitting with royalty Applejack. I simply cannot let you wear a hat at the table." Rarity stated. Twilight rolled her eyes as she took a seat next to Rainbow.

The room was definitely meant for large groups of ponies, as it had enough empty chairs for at least twenty ponies. Twilight tuned out of Rarity and Applejack's argument as she began to plan out her next move.

Who should she tell?

Twilight already knew she would tell Rarity. Although Rarity was definitely angry about Discord, she was nowhere near as upset as the others. Rarity was arguably one of the calmest (and obviously generous) among them so she would be able to help break it to the others. Despite the fact that she was currently arguing over a hat.

Applejack was a bit shaken up over Discord, but she doesn't seem too upset over it anymore. Applejack was the one to calm everypony down if she needed too, but her honesty may ruin things. If any of the others asked about Discord, she may slip up. But why would they even ask about him unless they already knew? Even if Applejack let it slip, she may be able to break it to them in her own way.

Rainbow definitely didn't like Discord. Not because he betrayed her but because of what he did to all her friends. Rainbow would definitely hate the fact that Discord escaped again, but her loyalty to her friends may be the thing that pushes her to fight Discord. That may be good. Right?

Now for Pinkie Pie, Twilight had no idea. Pinkie changed when Discord was stoned that's for sure, but she didn't go crazy on them like she did on her birthday. Pinkie did want to become Discord's friend and Twilight has no idea how much their friendship progressed before-hand. The big question was this: Was Pinkie upset that Discord betrayed them, or was Pinkie upset that she couldn't befriend him? Twilight decided to figure that out before telling her.

Fluttershy definitely wasn't ready. She loved him. Looking back, Twilight was surprised she didn't realize that before. Twilight knew she had to prepare Fluttershy for Discord without letting her know he had escaped. She only hoped for everypony's sake that she could figure it out before Discord showed up.

"Hey Twilight!" Rainbow's loud voice yelled, causing Twilight to yelp and nearly fall out of her seat. Now all eyes were on her.

"Darling are you alright?" Rarity asked. "You've been staring down at the table for a while now."

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. "Heh. Sorry girls" she said with a slight blush.

"What's wrong?" Rainbow asked. Twilight looked at the three ponies around her. Wait, three? Twilight finally noticed that Pinkie and Fluttershy were absent from the table.

"I was just wondering where Pinkie and Fluttershy went." Twilight responded. That wasn't entirely a lie.

"Ya'll know Pinkie. She's probably talkin' to the cooks 'bout letting her help them." Applejack said as she reached across and snatched the hat from Rarity. Rarity frowned but ignored it for now.

"Oh right." Twilight said with a light smile. "And Fluttershy?"

Rainbow crossed her hoofs. "She said she was going for 'a walk' but I know she's visiting Discord's statue, again." Rainbow bitterly said. Rarity looked a bit worried while Applejack glanced out the window like she was looking for her.

Twilight realized the situation. The two ponies she couldn't tell weren't here. This could very well be her only chance to brief them on the situation.

It was now or never.

Twilight looked around the room making sure Pinkie was indeed gone before she leaned forward slightly.

"Girls, I need to tell you all something." Twilight said.

* * *

Discord finally saw the village within sight and halted himself. He has been here before. He couldn't place the name of the town though. Something like Horsefeet or something? Regardless, he needed to remember which identity he went by for this village. Sometimes he was a unicorn, sometimes he was a pegasus.

On one occasion he made himself an Alicorn. Everypony in the village thought the elderly pony had gone crazy. He never turned himself into an earth pony solely because he either wanted to use his magic or use his wings, even if they were disguised.

Discord remembered he went as a unicorn, but not the name he went by. Maybe one of the townsponies would recognize him and call to him.

"Oh hey! It's Horsehoof village!" The filly exclaimed. Discord had almost forgotten she was with him. Actually, that gave him an idea. Discord snapped his fingers, a bright flash forced the filly to shield her eyes. When she looked again, Discord had turned himself into a gray unicorn w/ a white and black striped mane, short tail, and a green star cutie-mark. His eyes weren't mismatched either.

"Woah" The filly went. ' _You almost look normal_ ' she thought to herself with a snicker. Discord pointed a hoof at her.

"Alright, if anypony asks, you are my cousin and we are visiting for supplies." Discord said. The filly looked confused.

"Wouldn't it be better if you said I was your kid?" She asked. Discord shook his head.

"We don't look similar at all" he said. Plus the idea of having a kid made him wince. He didn't hate children, in fact he liked fillies. They're just bundles of chaos that have yet to be tamed. Though, his kid would probably give him headaches. The filly shrugged.

"Alright" she went.

"I forgot what I named myself here, so wait until you hear it." Discord said as they began approaching the village. Discord then had a thought. "Speaking of names, what should I call you?" Discord asked.

"It's Violet, Violet Ballet" The filly said.

Discord turned walked faster with a smirk. "Sorry I didn't quite hear you, What ball?" Discord asked. The filly rolled her eyes.

"I said Violet Ball-et" The filly said more loudly. Discord began trotting faster.

"Come again?" he asked.

"Stop messing with me" The filly called out. Discord was now running at full speed, the filly desperately trying to keep up.

"I would never screw with you, **Screwball** " Discord laughed. The filly growled.

"It's Violet!" She called.

"Screwball it is!" He responded, laughing louder at the filly's angry rants.

* * *

Fluttershy began to wonder if it was this cold last time she was here. There were more birds than last time too, but for once she wasn't happy to see them. Birds and Statues don't get along too well.

" _No wonder he hates it here_ " Fluttershy thought to herself. There was practically nothing to look at besides the castle. Fluttershy rubbed the back of her hoof.

"Did you know a guard here was a parasprite?" Fluttershy asked. No response. "The Princess thinks the changelings are coming back. We need to be on high alert." Nothing.

"I guess I'm lucky that the Princess didn't place a guard here yet. I hope the original guard is ok." Fluttershy said. Silence.

Fluttershy flew up to the statue's face. She didn't get a good look at it before then. She wasn't exactly focused when they used the elements, and it was too dark when she visited him afterwards. "I hope you'll be ok. Who knows what will happen if the Princess puts a changeling guard here by accident." She said, her voice full of worry.

Nothing.

Fluttershy's ears dropped. "Um… I'll be going now" she said as she flew back down. She had come to tell Discord she didn't need him, but once she saw him she just wanted to talk to him like nothing happened.

Fluttershy gently put a hoof to his stone paw. It was cold. "I guess we can't do our special hoofshake anymore huh?" She sadly asked. She backed away, eyeing the statue's angry face, before turning and heading back inside. Not noticing the figure watching her

* * *

 **Author's Notes = I got the idea of the Discord Summoning Button (gotta think of a better name for that) from Dragon Ball Super. That's about the only reference to Dragon Ball I'll ever write in a story. xD (Also yes that button will play an important role later, for better or worse).**

 **I had a tough time deciding Screwball's real name. I wanted it to be realistic and at the same time could be shortened to Screwball, but I couldn't find a name that sounded like Screw. Anyhow, that's gonna be her nickname from now on. (You know what they say, once you name it you start getting attached to it. :D)**

 **Update On PC = Yeah I don't think I'll fix it. If I leave it unplugged for the whole day, it works for 30ish minutes the next day before the harddrive slows down and stops. (Well I think it's the hard-drive, I forgot the specific error, but the error usually means the BIOS is messed up or the harddrive failed. It also makes a weird clicking noise when it starts to slow down.) I'm using that 30 minute time to back-up all the important things, I.E pictures and homework-that-I-already-redid xD**

So **Xion The XIV** , you've discovered the first evidence to Discord's innocence. I know Discord doesn't use flames, so the question is: Who was that? (Another tip: Notice anything weird about the Parasprite's behavior?)

Yes Discord could of easily beaten them, in fact they only beat him the first time because he under-estimated them, but Discord was kind-of in a state of disbelief and wasn't thinking rationally.

Also, yeah I agree. If I was Discord, I would never forgive them. And yes those feelings of being betrayed will influence his thoughts when he meets them again. Though I won't say if he does forgive them or not because that would be spoilers xD

So **Man Under Cover** , I hope how I portray Rainbow doesn't come across as out-of-character. I just feel like she didn't have much patience for Discord in the beginning (as this is happening BEFORE Tirek [and Tirek won't be in the story btw]). As for your questions:

1) No Discord did not lose his magic, but he has been restricting it for the sake of Ponies (and mostly Fluttershy). Also I love chaos magic too! In my mind, he has some control over it, but for the most part he has no idea what it'll do if he uses too much or too little of it.

2) This isn't a sequel to Forced Reformation, but it can be seen that way. The way I plan on ending that story makes it so that Come Back can definately happen afterwards, but this isn't intended to be a sequel.

3 & 4) That would be spoilers. :) [Do you guys really know what happened that day yet?]

5 & 6) We must look at things from Discord's POV. He already believed that most of the Elements of Harmony would stone him if they wanted to, but he never really felt threatened because he had his friend Fluttershy to defend him, and he would defend her when needed. So when the time came and Discord was so sure Fluttershy would stop them, and she didn't, it would've crushed him. Like figuring out your best (and only) friend was backstabbing you. How would you react to that? He will definitely say a thing or two to them when he sees them again.

 **Final Note = Man I hate schedules. Though I finally got this chapter done and can move to the next. :D**

 **As always, I hope you're safe in this winter (and soon spring) weather. I really do wish you all a happy life and great day. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and see you next time! :)**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 ***One day ago***

The soldier quickly rushed through the double doors of the main castle. He ignored his muscles pleading with him to stop. Admittingly the soldier wasn't the most athletic of his kind, but he needed to deliver this news to his queen.

He was halted in front of her chambers. "State your purpose" said one of the two guards.

The soldier gave a small bow, respecting his elites, and cleared his throats. "I have urgent news that my queen must hear" he informed. The guards eyed the soldier before stepping aside. The soldier wasted no time heading inside the chamber.

His queen in all her might stood there, looking straight at the doors that were once shut. The soldier quickly trotted as close as he was allowed and bowed his head, not daring to look back at her.

"Why have you disturbed me?" His queen asked. He was now allowed to speak.

"Sorry for the intrusion my queen, but I'm afraid one of our men has been captured" the soldier said.

The queen let out a frustrated sigh at this. It was uncommon for one of their spies to be captured, but it does happen every now and then. Usually it's because of a simple mess-up or bad luck. She stood up and walked closer to the soldier.

"Which one?" She asked. The soldier gulped, knowing that his Queen would really hate this.

"The one… In Canterlot" The soldier finally said. The Queen paused for a second before trotting over directly in front of the soldier. He kept his head down.

"You mean the one stationed in the Canterlot Gardens?" The Queen asked. The soldier nodded low enough to not bring himself to eye level.

The Queen sighed, knowing full well that terrible things would result if Celestia were to keep the Changeling.

"Look up to me" The Queen ordered. The soldier did as he was told, she didn't look enraged but more ticked off. "Guards!" She called.

Both the guards at the door immediately ran to her and bowed. "Yes Queen Chrysalis?" They both asked in unison.

Chrysalis looked at both of them. "You two make sure nopony enters my chambers until I return. As for you" she continued as she eyed the soldier. "You must accompany me. We are heading to Canterlot."

* * *

"Alright listen closely Screwball" Discord said. The now-named Screwball looked at him ticked off.

"Don't call me that" she hissed. Discord rolled his eyes as they entered the village. "Just follow my lead"

She was beginning to wonder if she should really be tagging along. Discord eyed his surroundings. The townsponies were busy chatting away, none really paying attention to them. He wanted to fix that, but better safe than sorry.

A lot of the features of the town reminded Discord of Canterlot. Most of the city was small houses, but there were stores everywhere ranging from restaurants to small stands. Though, most of the villages were like this. Discord trotted over to one of the carrot stands, which had nopony waiting in line (unlike most of the other buildings), Screwball following close behind.

The pony behind the counter looked excited to see him. "Hello! How may I help you?" She asked enthusiastically. Discord cleared his throat.

"I'll have twelve carrots" Discord said in a lower voice than his original. The pony nodded and began putting carrots into a small box. Screwball eyed Discord with confusion. Couldn't he just summon food?

"Hey! It's you!" A voice said from behind, prompting both Discord and Screwball to turn. There stood a dark-orange coated pony with a blue mane. The pony looked excited, but Discord looked confused for a moment.

Screwball stepped forward. "Oh hello Mr…?" She went, not bothering to mask her voice. The pony gave a nervous chuckle.

"Oh sorry. My name is Cherry Smoothie." The pony stammered, making Discord smirk. He wasn't even in his real form and he still intimidate ponies. "You… Probably don't remember me" she added looking a little down.

She then quickly shot her face up. "It's alright though! I never really talked to you Mr. Nun'ya!" Cherry added. Screwball leaned over to Discord.

"Nun'ya? That's the name you went for?" She whispered in disbelief. Discord suppressed a chuckle. Now he remembered. He went around claiming his name was None-ya B. Not his best of names but it usually got a laugh out of him when they asked to elaborate the B.

"Just call me None" Discord said with a smile that looked like it would break into a laugh. The pony quickly bowed and looked back up.

"Anyway I remember when you came to town. You kept going around and using your magic to play pranks on everypony." Cherry continued. "It was amazing! I've never seen such amazing magic!"

Discord puffed his chest slightly and 'Screwball' rolled her eyes. "Why thank you. Good to see somepony here appreciates my talents." he added.

Cherry shook her head frantically. "Oh! No I must thank YOU." she insisted. At this point the pony behind the stand was just watching with the carrots to the side.

Discord, surprised and somewhat concerned, began rubbing his ears. "I must've misheard. Did you just thank me for pranking everypony?" He asked. Cherry scratched the back of her head.

"W-Well not specifically for that. It's erm… Well the cloud you created." Cherry clarified. The confused look Discord was giving her prompted her to continue. "Erm… Well you see after you left, I kinda… Um… Took it."

Discord rubbed the back of his neck. "You took my cotton candy cloud?" He asked.

"Yeah… But you wouldn't believe how useful it has been! I've been using the chocolate milk from it to make a new special smoothie at my store. I've never had so much business before and it never runs out! I must thank you!" Cherry quickly said as she began shaking Discord's hoof.

The pony quickly went up and slapped some bits onto the table. "This one's on me" she declared proudly. Cherry then shoved the newly bought carrots into Screwball's face before she could protest.

"Oh! And I must invite you over to my shop so you can sample some of the Chocolate Smoothies. Free of charge of course!" Cherry added. Discord had a dumbfounded expression.

"Oh that won't be-"

"No I insist!" Cherry interrupted as she began pushing Discord. "It's the least I can do!"

Discord, not one to pass up free chocolate smoothies, decided to just go along with it. Especially since this pony didn't look like she would give up anytime soon. Cherry stopped pushing Discord and began to walk ahead of him.

"Great! Follow me please. Oh and your daughter too!" Cherry said.

"She's not my-"

"Yeah c'mon let's go Dad" 'Screwball' joked, emphasizing the word Dad. Discord let out a grumble as Screwball stuck out her tongue at him.

Might as well get some enjoyment out of this.

* * *

"Are you absolutely sure Twilight?" Rarity asked in an almost frightened voice. "Perhaps we just… forgot how we encased him. Surely he can't-"

"Rarity" Twilight interrupted. "There is not a doubt in my mind. I'm afraid it's true."

Silence enveloped the room for a few seconds, each having their own look of shock as if they're still processing what Twilight has just told them. Neither of them moved. It was as if time stood still for that moment.

Rainbow was the first to break the silence as she slammed her hooves onto the table. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"

Twilight jumped back a little. "Rainbow. Keep your voice down." Twilight attempted.

"Ugh! I thought we were finally rid of him! Of course he escaped! He just HAD to come back huh!?" Rainbow yelled in frustration.

"Ah' can't believe it… Discord escaped…?" Applejack went.

"Oh how dreadful! Now we must worry about Discord and the Changelings." Rarity said, putting a hoof to her forehead. "I feel a headache coming"

"How did he even escape so quickly?" Applejack asked.

"I'll tell you how! He must've stolen the elements of harmony and replaced them with fakes! It was just another act!" Rainbow yelled to nobody.

"Oh dear, you don't think he teamed up with the Changelings do you?" Rarity went.

"Who cares!? I'll pummel him so hard he'll wish he was still in stone!" Rainbow yelled.

"It doesn't add up…" Applejack went.

Twilight couldn't get a word in as they continued on.

"That no good…!"

"Oh what shall we do?"

"Little…!"

"Where in equestria could that darn fool be now?"

"Son of a-"

"GIRLS!" Twilight yelled, putting a halt to all of their rambling. They all turned to her. Rainbow looked furious, Rarity looked worried, and Applejack looked confused.

Twilight let out a sigh. "We're not going to get anywhere if we're just rambling like this."

Rainbow shot up into the air. "Yeah! Let's go beat the snot out of him!" Rainbow declared with an almost evil smile. She was yanked down by Applejack.

"Ah' think it'd be better if we came up with a plan." Applejack said as she turned to Twilight with a very serious look. "Like how are we gonna let the other two know."

Twilight's ears dropped. "That's the thing girls. I don't think we can let the know, at least not yet."

"Yeah, I've never seen Pinkie so down." Rainbow agreed.

"And poor Fluttershy, I don't think she can bear this news" Rarity added.

"But without all of us, we can't activate the elements of harmony" Applejack thought out loud.

"Exactly. I'm not sure we can convince Fluttershy to use her element again." Twilight said. Silence once again enveloped the room. Everyone of them processing the situation. Though despite the silence, neither of them heard the hoofsteps near the window, nor the distant bouncing approaching them.

"Hi girls!" the familiar voice of Pinkie soon exclaimed. It was as if they were all jolted awake as the stared dumbfoundedly at the door.

Pinkie had a wide smile. "Boy you all wouldn't believe what I just saw! I was in the kitchen and- Hey what's wrong?" Pinkie asked when she noticed how scared they all looked. "Did something happen?"

"No nothing's wrong! Why would something be wrong? Don't be silly PInkie!" Twilight quickly said with a unconvincing smile. Both Rainbow and Rarity facehoofed.

If Applejack was the worse liar, then Twilight was a close second.

Pinkie tipped her head a bit before continuing. "...Okie Dokie Lokie?" Pinkie went, her eyes focusing on Twilight, who was sweating at the moment. Pinkie then broke into a smile again.

"Anyways! So I was in the kitchen sitting in the corner because apparently I was 'getting in the way'" Pinkie said with an unphased smiled. "So I decide to stare outside the window I was facing and I was like 'it's such a nice day! We should totally go for a picnic' so I thought maybe I can convince the cooks to pack us a picnic with sandwiches and pie! Ohhhh I want some pie now! But they wouldn't listen to me! So I decided to make us a picnic and luckily for me I always carry a picnic basket in case of picnic emergencies. Then I-"

"Pinkie, breath" Twilight said. Pinkie then took in a huge breath and smiled.

"Thanks Twilight! So anyway-"

"Pinkie where are you going with this?" Rainbow asked. Pinkie then gasped.

"Oh right! I thought I saw Princess Luna outside!" Pinkie said, waving her hooves around.

"Princess Luna is awake? That's certainly odd" Rarity said. Luna's sleep schedule was completely opposite from Celestia. When they arrived yesterday Twilight assumed Luna was awake because it was nearing night and she woke up early.

"Perhaps Princess Luna is awake because of the Changelings?" Twilight theorized. Last time the Changelings invaded, Luna was asleep throughout the whole ordeal. Maybe she didn't want to be left out?

"That's what she told me!" Pinkie replied. All eyes fell on her again.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Oh wait! She said to eat first!" Pinkie exclaimed as she zoomed out the doors. A second later her head peeked around the corner. "I'll be right back!" and with that she disappeared again. The others, looking a bit confused, sighed.

"That's our Pinkie Pie" Applejack joked. The others gave a small chuckle. It was as if she sensed when there was too much tension.

"Now don't forget girls, we can't let them know about 'you know who'" Twilight said in a serious tone. The others nodded in agreement.

"Especially Fluttershy"

* * *

Fluttershy couldn't feel her hooves. She couldn't feel her heart. All she felt was confusion. No that wasn't right, this was anger? It was something and she couldn't tell what. She placed a hoof on her chest to make sure her heart was still beating.

Well it was, but a little too quickly.

Fluttershy took a few deep breaths, hoping the others didn't hear her when she scampered away from the window. The words Applejack uttered still ringing in her head.

 _Discord escaped_

The thought of those words made her shake her head. More confusion. If she knew she'd be hearing those words, she would not have listened to the distant voices that ended up being Rainbow. Curse her curiosity.

Fluttershy isn't sure why, but she found herself running back to the statue. She looked up to it and attempted to shake it.

"Tell me it isn't true" She whispered to the statue. No reply. She hated that. Fluttershy shook her head and tried to keep the tears at bay.

She failed. The tears began running down her cheeks and she began weeping a bit. She still didn't know what she was feeling, but she was pretty sure it's sadness.

 _You're crying tears of joy_

Fluttershy took a deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves. It didn't help much though. She flew up towards the statue's face once again and made eye contact. She felt nothing and sighed. Whether or not Discord was truly free, she wouldn't find out this way.

Fluttershy began rubbing her head. " _So what Fluttershy? The draconequus that broke your heart and lied to you is free. Maybe he will just stay away for the rest of my life? Yeah, there's no way he'd risk the element anyway!_ " Fluttershy thought with a weak smile.

Why did that cause some pain in her heart

Fluttershy stopped rubbing when she felt a familiar lump in her hair. She fished around her hair with her hoof until she managed to pull out the object in question. If her heart was working before, it must've stopped now.

Fluttershy began to sweat. It was her button. The button Discord had given her to summon him. The button that can bring him to her. She eyed it for a second, not really remember which side did what.

It was just one action and she could bring him. When the others got together to encase Discord in stone the last time, she conveniently forgot about the button. Or at least that's what she told herself.

For the moment, nothing mattered to Fluttershy. She focused solely on the object in her hooves. It was so tempting to push it regardless of what her mind told her. As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted to see him. Out of anger or love she wasn't sure anymore, but she wanted, no she NEEDED to see him.

She slowly reached around the button, laying her hoof on the Discord-faced side. She was so scared. What would happen? Would it work? Would he be happy to see her? Would he apologize for what he said to her? Would he lie again?

"Hey you!" A harsh voice called out, startling Fluttershy out of her thoughts. Instinctively she hid the button in her mane once more before turning to the source. There stood a guard glaring at her.

"O-oh um… I was just…" She mumbled. The guard kept his stern look.

"If I'm correct, you are miss Fluttershy right?" The guard asked. Fluttershy nodded weakly and the guard bowed slightly. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I was instructed to bring you back."

Before Fluttershy could form words the guard continued. "Breakfast is almost ready and your friends told me to escort you to the dining room. They said you'd be out here."

Fluttershy attempted to clear her head. The guard signaled her to follow him. "This way" he ordered. Fluttershy nodded once more and did as she was told.

The button would have to wait.

* * *

"Tia, as your sister we must warn you that we may very well be walking into a trap" Luna whispered, keeping an eye on the nervous looking changeling.

"Worry not sister. I have guards on standby. If anything were to happen, they know what to do." Celestia reassured.

"But Sister, we are still unsure…" Luna began.

"E-erm, here's the spot" The changeling prisoner between then interrupted. Both the royal sisters halted and began looking around. "H-her majesty will be here soon"

Luna looked as if she was ready to pounce. "We will be ready for them" Luna said. Celestia placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Yes, we will be ready" Celestia said in a more calm tone. Luna rolled her eyes.

"We do not know how you are so calm in the face of an enemy." Luna mumbled. Celestia gave a small laugh and smiled at her sister.

"We may not like the changeling queen, but we must ensure the safety of our citizens by remaining calm. The last thing we need is a war." Celestia responded.

" **Well isn't that noble of you?** "

Both Luna and Celestia's eyes shot forward and there stood the Changeling queen with a smug look on her face along with a changeling guard at her side. Luna frowned and Celestia frowned as well, but not as fierce. The Changeling between the sisters bowed immediately.

"Princess Celestia" Chrysalis said.

"Chrysalis" Celestia responded. Chrysalis took a glance at the changeling prisoner between them.

"Let's cut the pleasantries Celestia. As you know, I've come to discuss the terms of the release of my Changeling." Chrysalis stated as her smug smile vanished.

Celestia smiled a bit. At least she cared for her subjects. "Yes I indeed known. Have you an offer in mind?" Celestia asked.

"It is simple. In exchange for my citizen, we will pull out all our spies from Canterlot." Chrysalis. Luna's eyes widened and she was ready to attack the queen.

"You mean to tell us there are more spies here?" Luna asked. Chrysalis looked at her with confusion.

"Of course, us Changelings are masters of disguise." Chrysalis responded.

"How many are there?" Celestia asked.

"If I told you and you decline my offer, I'd be putting my operatives in risk." Chrysalis responded.

Luna eyed her sister who looked lost in thought. Celestia then looked back at the queen. Taking this deal would mean their stance with the Changelings wouldn't change. Celestia knew very little of the Changelings so she couldn't tell what the Queen would do if she declined. For all she knew, the queen was still stronger than her so she could forcefully take the prisoner back.

Celestia smiled. "Alright, I find these terms acceptable" she said. Luna looked a bit disappointed and Chrysalis smiled.

"Wise move" she responded and she faced the prisoner. "Stand here" she ordered. The prisoner shot up and scrambled over to her side. Luna continued to frown.

"How will we know you will hold up your end of the bargain?" Luna asked. Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

"I'll summon them here in front of you" Chrysalis said but paused as she faced the ex-prisoner. "Though first, I am curious as to why my changeling would break their disguise this way" The prisoner looked nervous.

"I-It isn't my fault my Queen! I was-" The changeling paused, looked at the sisters and leaned in and whispered something. Either Chrysalis was uninterested or she had a good poker face. After a few seconds of whispering, the Queen looked serious for a moment. Then she smiled deviously and she faced the royal sister again.

"Looks like I have some information that may be useful to you Celestia" Chrysalis said. Luna stepped forward.

"We have released your prisoner, we have nothing more to discuss with you" Luna harshly said. Celestia stepped forward with her sister.

"Does this have to do with Discord?" Celestia asked. When the queen gave a confused look, Celestia continued. "If it isn't about Discord, then I doubt it can be of use to us." Chrysalis smiled again.

"If it's information about Discord that you want then I can happily provide you with that" Chrysalis said. Luna rolled her eyes.

"We do not need this information, anything you know about Discord we can figure out ourselves as well" Luna said.

"Oh I disagree, I know more about Discord than anypony else" Chrysalis said in a smug tone.

"We doubt that" Luna said.

"I know he escaped around a week ago" Chrysalis said. Celestia looked interested while Luna looked sceptical. "Shortly after a visit from a certain little yellow pegasus"

At that, Celestia's eyes widened. "Of course if you doubt that, go ahead and ask her. She didn't see him escape but she will confirm she went to visit him that night." Luna looked at her sister.

"Shall we summon Fluttershy?" Luna asked her. Celestia shook her head.

"If Chrysalis did indeed have spies here, it is obvious she would know these things. Though I am confused as to how you could know this information. If Fluttershy did indeed visit the Canterlot gardens, I'm sure the guards would've informed me" Celestia said.

"That is true. If one of YOUR guards saw her, they would've informed you." Chrysalis agreed. Celestia took a second to realize what Chrysalis told her. "Consider that information free. Though for any more, I am going to need some sort of payment"

"What information on Discord do you have that would be of use to us?" Luna finally asked. Chrysalis gave a sinister smile.

" _ **I can tell you where he is**_ "

* * *

 **Author's Note = Sorry for the long wait! The funny thing is that I had like 80% of the chapter done on time, but I had writer's block on the last bit and didn't want to post it until I was done.**

 **Anyhow, so the Changelings are gonna be playing a part of the story. For good or bad will be revealed later! I have big plans for the next chapter, I don't want this story to go on for too long so I might speed up how things progress.**

Thanks for the review _**BrilliantCreativity**_! Seriously people reviews are a good way to speed me up.

 **Thanks for reading the story! Have a beautiful day and stay strong! Summer is almost here!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Both the royals sisters stood in silence. Chrysalis held a smirk like she expected that reaction from them. The guard took a step forward.

"While you two make your decision, I'll summon forth our spies." He paused and took a glance at his queen. "If that is alright with you your majesty." The queen nodded and the guard took off flying.

Celestia and Luna watched the changeling take off before Celestia focused on the changeling queen in front of her once more. "...and what would your demands be?" Celestia asked.

Chrysalis smiled. She had them right where she wanted.

"Simple. I would ask for Open Borders between our empires." Chrysalis responded. Luna tilted her head a bit.

"You wish to allow your subjects the right to enter Equestria?" Luna asked. Chrysalis nodded in response as she eagerly face Celestia, who was the only one who had the power to enact this.

Though she already knew her response.

"Chrysalis I will have to reject that offer." Celestia responded. Chrysalis feigned shock.

"I would think that the Princess of Equestria would be more than willing to allow such a simple-" Chrysalis began.

"This is not up for debate at the moment. Perhaps you have another offer in mind?" Celestia asked, hoping for a better deal. Chrysalis put a hoof under her chin and pretended to think.

"Well there is one more offer in mind"

* * *

Fluttershy quietly followed the guard to the front entrance. Since she was in the Canterlot Gardens, it took a while for them to reach the entrance. She wasn't paying attention though, she was too busy mentally slapping herself for being such a coward.

" _Why couldn't I just click the button?_ " Fluttershy thought to herself. She had it in her hand! This is the second time she had hesitated using it.

The first time was a week ago.

Regardless, she had come to a conclusion. Next time she saw Discord, she would demand answers from him. If he was half the friend she thought he was, he would answer them truthfully. Otherwise, her friends were right.

She was imagining the scenarios. He would laugh at her? No, he wasn't that cruel. Actually he wasn't cruel at all, he was just very childlike sometimes. That's what she loved about him.

"Fluttershy?" A voice called, snapping Fluttershy back to reality. She just now noticed they made their way inside and were walking down the hallway. She noticed Pinkie Pie hopping over to them with a… Cake?

"Hiiiii Fluttershy!" Pinkie sang with her goofy smile. Fluttershy tried her best to smile back.

"Hi Pinkie. What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh! So the cooks are taking an awfully long time to finish the food because they said that I was 'distracting them' so I decided I would bake us a cake while we waited but then it turned out to be pointless because they ended up finishing before my cake could finish so now I got this whole breakfast cake that we will need to eat because I-" Pinkie took in a deep breath. "Don't think I can take this home in my mane." She finished. Fluttershy had a look of confusion for a moment before she smiled back.

"I was just escorting Miss Fluttershy back to the main dining room" the guard said with a bow. Pinkie gave a confused gesture.

"But the dining room is back waaaaaaaaaay over there" Pinkie said as she pointed back to where they came from. The guard paused for a moment before looking around and smiling sheepishly.

"I guess I missed it" he admitted. Pinkie smiled.

"It's okiedokielokie! We'll just head back!" Pinkie sang as she began hopping back, Fluttershy following behind. The guard began following but stopped for a moment. His eyes scanned the area around him before he began walking backwards, keeping an eye on Pinkie and Fluttershy until he was out of sight.

"This better be good" The guard hissed as his eyes locked onto a maid that was hidden in a darker corner of the hall. The maid walked forward.

"Our Queen has given us orders to pull out." The maid said. Before the guard could ask, the maid continued. "JUST from Canterlot. That includes you."

The guard rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, it was the one who was captured?"

The maid nodded. They both proceeded to head towards the exit. "It's a shame, if I was given another minute, I would've gotten a hold of her." The guard grumbled. The maid just shrugged.

"Didn't matter. They came to an agreement so we didn't need the hostage." the maid replied.

The guard didn't understand his Queen sometimes. She was smarter than she let on and he knew this. Why did the Queen even bother negotiating with Princess Celestia? It's not like she was a legitimate threat anymore. When the failed invasion of Canterlot was over and done with, she didn't even seem bothered.

What was she thinking anyways? Leaving her back turned to the only two ponies who could stop her. Why did she send Twilight Sparkle to the dungeons with a powerful Alicorn? Heck she basically left them an open door when she tossed her in there.

The guard could still remember her response when he asked. "We didn't need Canterlot"

He rolled his eyes. Must just be some sort of tactic that he failed to understand. "Careful, you might fry your brain" The maid joked and he responded with a low growl.

"Whatever" he responded before he paused. "Say, who is tailing Discord? I heard the Queen has big plans for him."

The maid gave a confident smile as they finally reached the exit.

"Only our best operative."

* * *

"So where's those Chocolate smoothies we were promised?" 'Screwball' asked loudly with an eager tone. Some more shuffling was coming from the kitchen.

"Almost done!" Cherry's voice could be heard. Discord rolled his eyes in annoyance. He planned on only buying some food and playing a few pranks, but now here he was in this pony disguise. Out of boredom he was summoning various objects at the table such as forks, candles, a miniature piano, a dog plushie, and whatever else came to his mind.

The filly looked at the pile of things Discord had summoned. Summoning took a lot out unicorns yet here he was doing it with ease. He really is as powerful as she heard.

At least for now.

"Sorry for the wait!" Cherry said as she trotted back into the room. Discord quickly snapped his tail (somehow) and all the objects he summoned disappeared. Cherry either didn't notice or didn't acknowledge it as she placed two cups on the table. Discord eyed it like it was poisonous and he took a glance inside.

'Screwball' rolled her eyes as she took the cup. "Thanks" she said as she glanced at it for a moment then taking a sip. Her eyes widened as she took another glance down her drinks. "It's… It's…"

"HOLY CHAOS THIS IS THE BEST CHOCOLATE MILK I'VE EVER TRIED" Discord shouted, catching the other two off guard. Cherry smiled in response and 'Screwball' rubbed her head.

"Uh… yeah." 'Screwball' replied. Cherry gave a small laugh.

"Well like I said, I'm using your chocolate milk cloud. I just add some ingredients to bring out the chocolate better." Cherry said. 'Screwball' placed her drink down.

"Wait, does that mean your clouds last forever?" 'Screwball' asked Discord. He shrugged in response and continued to sip down his drink. "Anyways, I think I'll take my drink to go."

Cherry looked surprised. "Oh no. I insist you stay the night. The cloud really helped me out and I can never repay you enough!" Cherry said to Discord, who was focused on his drink. Why was he enjoying it so much? It isn't like he doesn't eat sweets all the time.

Discord took one large sip before gulping it down and clearing his throat. "As much as I'd love drinking this all day, we do have places to be" Discord responded. Cherry was looking desperate.

"Please stay? Just the night and you can be on your way." Cherry said with a sad look. Of course this had no effect on Discord.

"Sorry, me and _my dad_ " 'Screwball' giggled when Discord shot her a look. "-need to be on our way." With that she picked up her drink with the intention of leaving but was halted when Cherry leaped in front of her with her hooves in a praying position.

"I know it's weird, but I feel like something bad is gonna happen if you leave. I-I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to either of you!" Cherry pleaded. Discord couldn't help but think of Fluttershy by the way this pony was behaving. 'Screwball' on the other hand found it annoying if not a bit suspicious.

Discord chuckled. "It's understandable you'd want my handsome presence around for a little longer." Discord joked, Cherry blushing in response. "Though I must discuss this with my… Daughter."

'Screwball' chuckled as both she and Discord headed towards the door. Stopping right in front of it, Discord turned back to the pony making sure she was out of hearing range before turning back to his 'daughter.'

" _Screwball_ _I thought we agreed that you were to be my cousin"_ Discord hissed.

" _And I thought I told you my name was Violet._ " She hissed back.

" _Well since you're my daughter then, I decide your name and hence your name is Screwball"_ Discord retorted as he held his head up with a smile.

" _Don't we have better things to discuss?_ " 'Screwball' asked as she looked back. Cherry looked lost in thought with a worried expression.

" _What's there to discuss? This pony is weird and that's coming from the Spirit of Chaos. She does serve a mean smoothie though._ " Discord admitted as he licked his lips trying to remember the taste. 'Screwball on the other hoof just rolled her eyes.

" _So we both agree to leave. Alright that was simple."_ She said as she turned back to the pony. She cleared her throat about to announce their decision until she heard Discord grunt next to her.

She turned over and Discord was rubbing his head in confusion. "Are you ok?" 'Screwball' asked. Discord continued rubbing his head.

"Call me crazy but it feels like somebody just poked at my brain." Discord said. Before 'Screwball' could respond, Cherry was already in front of him.

"Sounds to me like you have a headache." She said, her voice doused in concern as she gently placed a hoof on his forehead. "It must've been all those things you were summoning before"

Both Discord and Screwballs eyes widened the size of dinner plates. "You saw that?" They asked in unison. Cherry blushed.

"I'm sorry I didn't know it was a secret. B-but i won't tell anypony, besides you need some rest." Cherry assured as she gave him a stern look.

Discord thought again that this pony was like Fluttershy, which made him want to leave even more. He felt the headache increase and he involuntarily groaned in response. Cherry gasped.

"That's it mister Nun'ya! I'm sorry but I refuse to let you leave until you're feeling better." Cherry said as she forcefully began leading Discord towards the stairs to which he showed no resistance to. Screwball stood there for a moment before groaning and following them.

The spell must be taking effect quicker than she thought.

* * *

Sometimes Fluttershy wondered if she was doing the right thing. Ok maybe all the time. She would constantly doubt herself no matter what her common sense or friends told her. She remembers back in Cloudsdale being too afraid to tell her parents how she got her cutie mark because she didn't think they would like what her talent was while at the same time feeling guilty for hiding her cutie mark.

Though she never had that feeling for animals. She always knew exactly what they needed and how they needed it. It was her talent and she took pride in it. It was the one thing she could do without second guessing herself or feeling anxious over the details. It was what she loved doing.

"Hey everypony! I brought cake~!"

When she took in Discord, she always thought of it like taking care of one of her animal friends. It was why she stood up to her friends to side with Discord when they first released him. It was why she was so patient with him even when being tricked. All animals, when raised in a hostile environment, would not open themselves. It made them feel like prey rather than the predator. Fluttershy assumed that was the case for Discord. Almost like her bear Harry.

"Well DUH. I baked it myself!"

The only time Fluttershy wasn't sure about her decisions regarding Discord was when he froze the pond and told her to ice skate with him. Besides that, her special talent had guided her for a long time. That is until Fluttershy realized something.

Discord isn't like he animal friends. Discord was his own being, unlike any other pony before him. She couldn't feed him carrots and he'd gladly obey, she couldn't use positive reinforcement to teach him to use his magic for good. He had his own ideals and goals that no amount of pampering in the world could change. He was his own pony (figuratively speaking).

"Ooooh~ the food looks delicious! C'mon Fluttershy I'm starving!"

When Fluttershy realized this, she expected their friendship to take a turn for the worse. Though she found that it actually went better. He constantly visited, wrote her letters, and occasionally brought her gifts. She still had the Discord-lamp he gifted her.

"Fluttershy?"

That's when she realized something. When Discord was with her, he had a habit of never planning things out. He would do as he pleases and only stop to think when he wasn't sure if his prank was good enough. He was the complete opposite of Fluttershy. He would NEVER second guess himself.

"Uhhh helloooo? Anypony there?"

She felt like she could be herself around him. His attitude and habits began rubbing off on her and she found herself more confident with him around. She knew he didn't judge her because he always did worse. She wondered if he did that on purpose just so she could feel relaxed. Regardless, it didn't change the fact that she loved being around him.

"...Fluttershy?"

She loved his attitude.

"Fluttershy!"

She loved him.

" **FLUTTERSHY!** "

Fluttershy jumped up with a squeak. She finally took in her surroundings and realized she was in the dining room with her friends all sitting there staring. Pinkie looked a bit confused, but still had a smile on her face. Fluttershy quickly straightened out.

"Y-yes Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked. If Pinkie's smile was a poker face, then she had the best in Canterlot.

"I was saying we should sit down! I'm starving!" Pinkie sang. Rarity, with a small look of concern on her face, nodded in agreement.

"We are all famished. I haven't had my breakfast yet." Rarity replied. Fluttershy followed Pinkie to their seat at the table, the others still eyeing Fluttershy a bit. She hoped for any kind of distraction, she didn't care what it was. Fluttershy still had Discord fresh in her mind and any questioning and she felt she would snap.

"Say Fluttershy, are you-" Twilight began. She stopped mid sentence when a loud growl echoed through the room effectively stopping whatever train of thought Twilight had. The girls giggled as Fluttershy blushed a little.

"Looks like somepony is hungry." Applejack said with an amused tone. She then looked at the food the chefs left a few minutes ago. "And now that Fluttershy and Pinkie is here, ah' say we should dig in!" Applejack said.

"No need to tell me twice!" Rainbow agreed as she grabbed a hold of her sandwich and took a bite out of it. Rarity rolled her eyes and more gently took her own bite of her food.

Soon enough they all began eating their foods with idle chatter. Fluttershy felt grateful that she was the shy one of the group because it gave her a reason to stay silent through the conversation. Occasionally adding in something to let the others know she was still there, for the most part she was lost in her thoughts once more.

All of them being about Discord. More precisely the button.

This was the second thing she had ever second guessed about Discord. Her mind was telling her to tell her friends about it. She had always relied on her friends and why was now any different? She knew the answer.

Because Discord was also her friend.

* * *

Both Celestia and Luna were silently walking back to the castle. The meeting with the Queen of the Changelings already had a lot of unknown variables, but neither of them knew what to make of this. Not only did the queen willingly pull out all her spies from Canterlot, but she also attempted two diplomatic offers that was essentially hinting at peace for the two empires.

Neither knew if the queen was true to her word, but both offers seemed reasonable. Though Celestia knew it could take another century before she could take either of those offers.

Equestria isn't the open society that Celestia wished it to be. In fact it was quite the opposite. Ponies would freak out over anything that wasn't a pony with the only exception being Griffins and that was only in some parts of Equestria. This was the reason why most of the kingdoms were mostly of the same species such as the Dragons, Changelings, and so forth.

Her ponies were fragile for good reasons though. Ever since the Windigos went extinct, the ponies of Equestria had learned to be more cautious. Plus the tempered Dragons and the attempted invasion of the Changelings didn't help. If she allowed either of the two deals, it would essentially allow her ponies to be exposed to the Changelings.

Celestia had a reputation to maintain. She knew that if she always attended to her meetings and allowed visits from everypony, they'd be more willing to follow her. It gave them the sense of power without giving them too much power and in turn they remained loyal.

If Celestia started allowing Changelings into Equestria, they would be rumors circulating. Silly rumors that wouldn't have any base nor evidence, but would still cause a little bit of doubt. It would be enough for civil unrest and a possible rebellion.

She simply could not take that risk. After all, she couldn't even convince them to give Discord a chance.

"Sister" Luna started. Celestia gave her sister a smile to indicate she was paying attention. Luna continued.

"We do not know why you passed up an opportunity for peace with the Changelings." She began, but returned the smile. "But we also know you always did what is best for our kingdom. So we won't question you."

Celestia couldn't have asked for a better sister. "Thank you" she simply stated. She heard her sister yawn, she was up past her regular sleep hours, but she was getting used to it now. "Come sister. I'm sure Twilight and the others are wondering where we are."

* * *

 **Author's Note = I wrote most of this chapter in like 2 days on google docs. If the quality of the chapter is worse or better please let me know. Also imma try (emphasise on the word 'try') to be less dialog heavy on my chapters just because I feel like stories are better when it's more descriptive.**

 **Lastly since I wrote this on my phone, I expect there to be a few autocorrected words placed in here. Please let me know if you see any! :D**

 **Constructive criticism is welcomed! Also (as a reminder) yes there's a reason why Discord is ignoring said button. Next chapter you'll figure out why.**

 **Have a beautiful day you beautiful person!**


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